Atiku debunks return move to PDP

From Tope Musowo, Ado-Ekiti

A former Vice-President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, at the weekend denied a statement made by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s chieftain that he might return to the PDP before the elections.

 The former vice-president said this in response to reports that he was being pressured by elements within the ruling party to stage a comeback.

 The PDP had said on Friday that it was wooing former members of the party, including Atiku Abubakar and Kwakwanso, who defected to the All Progressives Congress to return to the party before the next general elections.

 According to the PDP National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo, who stated this at a press conference in Ile-Ife, Osun State, the party had starting making moves to bring back the former members.

 He said, “The PDP has begun moves to bring back some of our former chieftains who are now in the APC. The PDP reconciliation committee set up by the National Working Committee will meet with all former members for the purpose of bringing them back before the next general elections.”

But when contacted, the Director General of the Atiku Media Office, Mallam Garba Shehu, said there was no plan by Atiku to return to the PDP.

 According to him, news linking the APC chieftain to a possible return to the PDP was lies being peddled by mischief makers.

 Shehu said, “There is no iota of truth in such claims. It is not only false, it is malicious and a product of the futile imaginations of those peddling it.”