Customs Boss, Dikko, Atiku In Secret Meeting

NigerianPilot; COMPTROLLER General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko Inde, last Tuesday met with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for several hours at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos.

According to our usually authoritative sources, the embattled Dikko, who has been embroiled in controversy surrounding the expiration of his four-year tenure last August 18, met with Atiku in a closed door meeting which lasted late into the night. Details of the meeting were sketchy as at press time.

However, one source revealed that the meeting may not be unconnected to an evolving gang-up by Northern politicians and power brokers regarding political alignments ahead of the 2015 elections, taking into cognisance, the North’s insistence on producing the President in 2015.

This is coming on the heels of the recent registration of the Peoples Democratic Movement, PDM as a political party and how it may affect the 2015 presidential election.

However, since the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, announced the registration of PDM as a political party, Atiku has distanced himself from the action claiming he remains a loyal member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. It would be recalled that Atiku inherited the structures of leadership of the PDM at the demise of General Yar’ Adua, while many of its prominent members including himself were absorbed into the ruling party where they play important roles.

Nevertheless, the implications of Atiku’s seeming oblique stance are not lost on observers and supporters of the President Goodluck Jonathan Administration who view the action as a calculated distraction to destabilise the political landscape. Very reliable sources close to the Presidency stated that while Atiku remains a member of the PDP, it is clear that the registration of the PDM is an effort to whittle the powers of the President and swing the candidacy to the North ahead of the 2015 elections.

Atiku who has not concealed his intention to vie for the PDP Presidential ticket in 2015

 President may contest in 2015 and may therefore chose to defect to the PDM in case he fails to be adopted as its Presidential candidate. This action may have dire consequences for the ruling party, as Atiku would seek to exploit the vast potential of the PDM which draws its membership from mainly the Northern elite of the PDP.

Our sources also revealed that Atiku may employ a more strategic political coup by merging the PDM with the All Progressives Congress, APC which has already had a huge support base in the North in particular and on a nationwide scale.

The PDM will prove to be a handy joker up the sleeve of the former Customs officer as a necessary platform to realise his ambition of emerging as a presidential candidate.

The Turakin Adamawa has had a rocky relationship with PDP which he dumped in 2007 to unsuccessfully contest the presidential election under the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. Since his return to the ruling party, he has continued to have issues, having been edged out in the 2011 presidential primaries by President Goodluck Jonathan.