2019 Presidency: Jonathan, Atiku meet

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former vice president allegedly met former president Goodluck Jonathan to consider offers made to him by a section of the leadership of the opposition party to return.

According a report in Naij.com citing This Day, there are reports that some PDP chieftains are making efforts to bring Atiku back to the party's fold but that he gave them conditions which include being given automatic ticket to contest the 2019 presidential election. Atiku was said to have met Jonathan for the purpose of looking into these conditions, especially, that of automatic ticket.

Jonathan was said to have advised Atiku to consider returning to the PDP early enough to avoid being caught by certain provisions of the party's constitution, which stipulate a period of time a member has to spend in the party before he could be eligible to contest for a political office, ThisDay reports.

“Atiku was advised to return early to enable him to fulfil the eligibility condition in the party's constitution and also have ample time to integrate his political structure into the PDP's,” a source privy to the meeting said.

Atiku was said to have told that he stood a better chance to realise his ambition in the PDP than the APC. The source said: “He was told to note a recent comment by the APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, stating that as the incumbent, President Buhari had a right of first refusal even when the decision would have to be his. “That has been buoyed by Kaduna state Governor Nasir el-Rufai who had practically launched Buhari's re-election campaign.”