Stakeholders in the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are restrategising and mapping out plans to rebuild the party, unite feuding elements and make the party a more formidable organisation, Saturday Sun has gathered.

As part of strategies to rebuild the party, stakeholders are intensifying push for former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, to emerge as the consensus candidate for the position of the partys National Chairman.

Since the exit of Iyorchia Ayu as National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum has functioned in his stead, pending when a substantive chairman will be named.

Saraki, who served as former governor of Kwara State, hails from the North Central. The current position of the PDP national chairman may still be zoned to the North Central.

Saturday Sun gathered that shortly after the Benue Court ratified Ayus suspension, party stakeholders started pushing for Saraki to be named as the new national chairman, since he is from the same North Central, like the former chairman.

The PDP constitution provides that when a position becomes vacant, the zone of the occupant is expected to provide a replacement.

Saturday Sun has gathered that PDP political stakeholders from the geopolitical zone have zeroed in on Saraki, and he may emerge after a final decision is taken by the Supreme Court on the presidential elections petition filed by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the party.

Though the time frame within which Saraki may be named is unclear, Saturday Sun has learnt that other stakeholders from other geopolitical zones, especially the camp of the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, may endorse the move.

Multiple sources told Saturday Sun that Saraki was not keen on accepting the position but was being prevailed upon by his political associates to take up the job.

One of the sources from Sarakis camp said the former President of the Senate was worried that the cracks in the party might widen even after his emergence as chairman of the troubled party.

He said with old governors of the party out of office, the current crop of new governors might not be too willing to fund the party as expected, thereby leaving the financial burden to Saraki to shoulder as chairman.

The ally said the aforementioned issues will be resolved in the coming days before Saraki will fully commit to chairing the party and lead it out of the woods ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Meanwhile, another source has told Saturday Sun that despite the shaky arrangements, Saraki has commenced a discreet move to reach out to aggrieved members of the party.

He said Saraki already reached out to Wike and members of his group who are willing to support his candidacy.

According to the source, Saraki will make further consultations and take a position before end of the year on the issue.

A highly placed party source told our correspondent that I know that when the issue of Saraki replacing Ayu was first mooted, he said he did not want a situation where if he accepted, they might come back to say that Ayu has won his case in the court. But as it stands now, the party stakeholders are still meeting over Saraki. And they are even making overtures to Ayu (to withdraw his case from the Court of Appeal). But because we have elections in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa next month, everybody wants to keep the House intact until after the election.

According to a source at the PDP national secretariat, top shots in the opposition party have started looking beyond former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s case at the Supreme Court where he is challenging the judgment of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPT) , which affirmed President Bola Tinubu as winner of the last presidential election. Consequently, the source added that Sarakis recent visit to the FCT Minister might not be unconnected to realignment among PDP top shots.

According to him, Dont forget that Wike is still entrenched in the party. He does not have issues with stakeholders. The person he has problem with is Atiku Abubakar, and it is on the issue of not zoning the presidency solely to the South. The visit might not be unconnected to the move to make Saraki chairman.

When Saturday Sun sought to know if Atiku and his key supporters are disposed to Saraki becoming the next PDP national chairman, another party top shot stated that the former Vice President is still maintaining his ties with Ayu.

Regarding whether the Atiku camp want Saraki as chairman or not, what I know is that most of the party people are moving on. Who is in Atiku camp and who is not in Atikus camp is not an issue again in the coming dispensation in the party. What is paramount to the stakeholders is the survival of the party. I do not think Atikus men have any misgivings about Saraki.

“But what I know is that Atiku is still keeping his ties with Ayu. Because Ayu is insisting that he is still in court. And that could be why Saraki is pandering to the other side, he stated..