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We are the ones who started the push for six months delay in the elections to enable us [to] put in place an interim government which would then enable the party to change its presidential candidate to somebody that is more competitive,” one official confessed. He added that Mr. Jonathan’s faction also sought the extension for their own designs, which was to explore ways of rigging the elections.

SaharaReporters has learned of a new twist in the desire of some top officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a six-month postponement of polls in Nigeria, with several sources saying a faction of the party would work to replace President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s presidential candidate.

In separate interviews with SaharaReporters, numerous PDP officials disclosed that many founding members of the party had lost confidence in Mr. Jonathan’s viability as a candidate, adding that a faction within the party had discussed easing the incumbent president out of the presidential race, and replacing him with another candidate from the Niger Delta zone.
“The only obstacle to the plan is that the South-South might kick against it, so we have arrived at a consensus to find another candidate,” one of our sources, a northerner, said.
“If elections could be postponed for six months, we will definitely replace President Jonathan as our candidate,” another member of the faction confirmed.
In a clear sign that the party was crumbling was within, several high ranking PDP members said they regretted letting President Jonathan carry the party’s flag as a presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections. Some of them confessed to being aware that the party’s prospects looked dire with Mr. Jonathan holding the presidential ticket.
“We are the ones who started the push for six months delay in the elections to enable us [to] put in place an interim government which would then enable the party to change its presidential candidate to somebody that is more competitive,” one official confessed. He added that Mr. Jonathan’s faction also sought the extension for their own designs, which was to explore ways of rigging the elections.
Our interviews revealed that many PDP governorship candidates in the north and elsewhere in the country were secretly working against Mr. Jonathan’s re-election or quietly distancing themselves from him.
One party leader revealed that some candidates in the northern area were all but campaigning for Mr. Buhari, the presidential flag bearer of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, some PDP officials told SaharaReporters that, while they hoped that President Jonathan could be sidelined to increase the chances of the party in the upcoming elections, they also wished that the APC would also dump Mr. Buhari as its presidential candidate.
The party officials claimed that key political figures across Nigeria continue to view a Buhari Presidency with mortal fear because of his stubborn personality and his promise to punish the corrupt.