Atiku in Kano as Shekarau officially joins PDP today

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, arrived in Kano Sunday afternoon to welcome Ibrahim Shekarau, former governor of Kano, into the PDP.

Atiku returned to the country from Europe for Shekarau’s defection from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP).

Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta state governor, and Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa, are also in Kano.

Shekarau is expected to make his defection to the PDP official on Monday.

An official of the PDP who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Atiku would be in the state for three days to woo other opposition parties’ members.

The official said chieftains of the party had a private meeting with Shekarau on Sunday to perfect his defection.

TheCable quotes the source as saying, “As I’m talking to you now, we met Shekarau at his residence and we are busy arranging his defection along with his supporters into PDP. We perfected all the arrangements.

“Our party officials are fully engaged to ensure successful hosting of our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the national chairman of the party Dr Iyorchia Ayu.

“Atiku will stay in Kano for three days to articulate and woo many opposition members into the PDP. I am confident that the party will win the 2023 general election.

“Atiku will meet with various groups of Islamic scholars, youth groups and other important groups in order to persuade them to vote for him to win the 2023 election.”

Shekarau was a member of the PDP until four years ago leaving the party due to the internal rift in the Kano chapter of the PDP.

He joined the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2019 and went on to contest the Kano central senatorial election on the party’s platform.

A few months ago, he dumped the ruling party for the NNPP following his rift with Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje.

But Shekarau said last week that he was done with the NNPP after accusing that Rabiu Kwankwaso, the party’s presidential candidate, of betraying the agreement made with him before joining the party.