Saraki, Kwankwaso May Return To PDP

A new opinion poll conducted by an online news medium, Premium

Times has suggested that the Senate President, Bukola Saraki will most likely leave the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Saraki, a former governor of Kwara State, was one of the six APC politicians available as options for participants in the opinion poll, which lasted for five days, and was available on Premium Times website.

Other top politicians listed as options in the poll are Minister of Transportation and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, former Kano State governor and current Senator, Rabiu Kwankwaso, former governor of Gombe State and current Senator, Danjuma Goje, former governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko and Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Al-Hassan.

All the listed politicians had something in common: they all joined Nigeria’s ruling APC from the PDP, in the build up to the 2015 general election. This fact, may have been responsible for 13.7 per cent of participants (433) saying they believe all of them will return to the PDP.

According to Premium Times, a total of 3,170 readers participated in the online poll which lasted for five days and was carried out in a way that made it impossible for a respondent to vote more than once from the same computer or mobile device.

The participants were asked a single question: Who among these politicians do you think will go back to the PDP?

The Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Al-Hassan, was the voters’ third choice with 17.6 per cent (559) saying they believe she will return to the PDP.About 22.6 per cent of the participants (716 voters) said they believe Saraki, would go back to the PDP, and was closely followed by Rabiu Kwankwaso with 20.6 per cent (652 participants) saying they believe Mr. Kwankwaso will also return to the party.

Of the six politicians suggested in the poll, former governor of Sokoto State, Aliyu Wamakko, was considered least likely to leave the APC as only 2.6 per cent (83) of the respondents said they believe he will do so.

Results for the others include current Minister of Transport and former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi (7.7 per cent, 244) and former Governor of Gombe State, Danjuma Goje, (5.5 per cent, 175 voters).

About 9.7 per cent of participants (308) said they believe none of the politicians will re-join the PDP.

It would be recalled that the national leadership of the PDP recently called on all former members of the party like Saraki, Kwankwaso and the rest to the return to the party.  This followed former president Abubakar Atiku’s return to the party.

In response to this call, the governor of Kwara State, Dr Abdulfatah Ahmed in a recent interview with journalists in Abuja, said that he and Saraki will never return to the PDP. He said while they had cause to leave the PDP as of the time they left, they had no reason to leave the APC now