Atiku strengthens his campaign team with Secondus, Anyim, Saraki, Oyinlola

In a bid to bolster his campaign team, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has drafted Pius Anyim, Bukola Saraki, Uche Secondus, and Olagunsoye Oyinlola into his campaign council.

Atiku appointed Saraki and Anyim as “special envoy” and “special adviser”, respectively, while Secondus, a former national chairman of the PDP, was appointed as technical adviser.

Former governor of Osun State, Oyinlola, and former governor of Kano state, Ibrahim Shekarau were also appointed as special advisers.

The appointments were announced in a statement by Atiku’s aide, Paul Ibe on Monday, September 26, 2022.

“Atiku Abubakar charged the appointees to use their vast political experiences in ensuring that the PDP presidential campaign records resounding success in the 2023 election,” the statement read in part.

This is coming amid the crisis rocking the PDP since the end of the party’s presidential primary in May.

Some members of the party including Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, have been calling for the removal of the National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu.

Wike and his allies argued that the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman cannot come from the same region.

The governor during one of his public attacks against the leadership of the PDP, recently said after the primary, which Atiku won, the former Vice President mooted the idea that Iyorchia would step down as the chairman of the party to balance key positions in the PDP.

But Ayu has maintained that he would remain in office until the end of his tenure.