Atiku returns to Nigeria ahead of PDP NEC meeting

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has returned to Nigeria ahead of the highly anticipated National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Atiku, who had been abroad for several weeks, arrived back in the country in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Ambassador Illiya Damagum-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP faced pressure to schedule the NEC meeting for April 18, after refusing to convene the meeting for over a year.

The NEC, considered the party’s second most influential decision-making body after the national convention, is expected to convene quarterly as per the party’s constitution. The upcoming NEC meeting is anticipated to be crucial for the party’s future.

Atiku, seen as the de facto leader of the party due to his role as the presidential candidate in the last elections, is expected to lead other meetings preceding the NEC gathering.

Meanwhile, concerns have grown over the party’s internal management amid allegations of external influence, as claimed by former Benue State governor, Senator Gabriel Suswam.

Additionally, the North Central zone has called for Damagum to step down from the acting national chairmanship seat and allow the emergence of a substantive national chairman from their region, as initially zoned in 2021.

The party’s last convention saw former Senate President, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, from Benue State (North Central), elected as national chairman.

However, Damagum, deputy national chairman (North), from Yobe State (North East), assumed the acting national chairman role in 2023 following a court order removing Ayu from office.

Furthermore, some governors and party leaders openly opposed Atiku as the PDP presidential candidate in 2023 and have reiterated their support for President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).