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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have settled for Aliko Dangote as their presidential candidate with reports indicating that the party is said to have sent emissaries to woo the billionaire businessman.

Ahead of the 2019 general election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has started making overtures to billionaire business man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, to come and contest for the presidential election on its platform, DailyTimes exclusively reports.

Already, the opposition PDP has zoned the presidency slot for the 2019 election to the Northern part of the country, while the National Chairmanship slot of the party has been earmarked for the Southern part.

An impeccable insider source disclosed in Abuja that the party, in a determined efforts to win the 2019 election, has already sent emissary to the billionaire businessman from Kano, who is reputed as the wealthiest businessman in Africa.

It was learnt that the decision to reach out to Dangote with a view to wooing him to come and contest for the presidential election on the platform of the PDP, was part of the decisions reached by members of a think tank committee put together by the immediate past President of the country, Dr. Jonathan Goodluck.

The opposition PDP, which recently came out of its leadership crisis following the ruling of the Supreme Court that recognised Senator Ahmed Makarfi as its National Chairman, was said to have taken a lot of things into consideration before the decision to go and woo Alhaji Dangote for the 2019 mission.

The source said: “I can confidently tell you that the PDP has made overtures to Alhaji Aliko Dangote to come and fly the presidential flag of our party for the 2019 presidential election.

“So many things were taken into consideration before the party arrived at this decision. Alhaji Dangote has the clout, the pedigree, the name, the followership and above all the financial war chest to match any presidential candidoate that the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) or any other party may be bringing forward in 2019”.

It was further gathered that Dangote allegedly spent personal money running into about N37 billion in 2015 to help in realising the presidential ambition of President Muhammadu Bihari, before and after he (Buhari) emerged at the presidential candidate of the APC then. It is still not clear if Buhari will be seeking a second term in office come 2019.

Further findings showed that Alhaji Dangote had equally made a lot on financial contributions to the emergence of other past presidents in the country.

Another source within the party who spoke to The Daily Times said: “If Dangote can make financial contributions to ensure the emergence of other past Presidents in the country in the past, don’t you think he will be willing and ready to spend any amount to realise his own presidential ambition if he accepts the overture from the PDP?

“This is one of the reasons why the PDP made the overtures to him (Dangote) and we sincerely hope and pray that he accepts it. If he does, the journey to the Aso Rock presidential villa for the PDP in 2019 would have been made less stressful and less thorny”, the source added.

When contacted, a source close to Dangote disclosed that his principal is not interested in politics, saying that the PDP should look elsewhere for its candidate.

The source, who sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, insisted that the stance of the business mogul not to dabble into politics has not changed, saying that any attempt by any political party to woo him for 2019 presidency is a distraction.

He said: “The attempt to woo him will fail because Dangote is not interested in politics. He is a businessman to the core and what you just asked me to react to is a distraction.

“The PDP should go and look elsewhere for its candidate for 2019 as Dangote is committed to his core vision and desire to invest and create jobs to the people”.

Ijaw youths, under the auspices of Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide, Central Zone, on Thursday shut down the activities of the headquarters of the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. For over two hours, the angry Ijaw youths in their hundreds, locked down Yenagoa, the state capital, claiming that the NCDMB had opened new offices in Lagos and Abuja contrary to the provisions of the Local Content Act. The youths, who stormed the office complex, located along Isaac Boro Expressway at about 9:45am, had forced their way into the complex by pulling down a section of the fence when the security guards denied them access through the main gate.

The Chairman, IYC, Central Zone, Tari Porri, who led the protest, said it had come to their knowledge that the NCDMB had opened new offices in Lagos and Abuja contrary to Section 71, sub-section 3 of the NCDMB laws. He stated that NCDMB Act empowered the Board to open offices in only in oil and gas producing areas, querying the board’s rationale for opening offices in Lagos and Abuja.

Porri said, “This place has been left redundant and the Executive Secretary now operates from Lagos and Abuja and comes here only once in three months. This is unacceptable! The Executive Secretary should stay here with us.

Premier League clubs took their transfer deadline day spending to a record £210m with a late flurry of deals but some of the highest-profile moves of the window failed to materialise. Despite top-flight clubs' total summer outlay reaching £1.4bn - another record - Alexis Sanchez, Virgil van Dijk, Riyad Mahrez, Thomas Lemar, Diego Costa and Ross Barkley all remained at their clubs. The deadline-day record - breaking last year's £155m mark - was only confirmed well after the 23:00 BST deadline.

Chelsea's £35m signing of Danny Drinkwater and Mamadou Sakho's £26m move to Crystal Palace were both announced after 01:00 BST. Chelsea signed Davide Zappacosta, Spurs recruited Swansea striker Fernando Llorente for £15m and the Welsh club replaced him with Wilfried Bony for £12m - all after the window had closed.

Philippe Coutinho, the subject of a rejected £114m bid from Barcelona earlier in August, remains a Liverpool player but could still move as the Spanish window does not close until 23:00 BST on Friday. Mahrez and Costa have also both been linked with moves to Spain, although the interest in those cases is less clear-cut.

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday renewed his administration’s resolve to take Nigeria to the Promised Land.

”I assure you that this administration, which has made security, economic well-being and prosperity of all Nigerians its priority, will not rest on its oars until we see the Nigeria of our dream,” Buhari said in his Eid-el-Kabir message to Nigerians.

Senate President Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara urged Nigerians to rededicate themselves to building a strong, united, economically sound and politically stable country.

The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has described President Muhammadu Buhari’s latest comment that he was pleased with Nigeria’s economic situation as another pointer to the fact that he has lost touch with the economic realities in the country. The governor said it was strange that the President could say he was pleased with sufferings being experienced by his people.

Fayose, in a statement issued on Wednesday, by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said it was obvious that the president’s close to three months stay in London had taken his mind off the reality of the economic crises being witnessed in the country. The governor maintained that the economic growth of a nation could only be measured by the welfare of the people. “It is like the President endorsing the sufferings of Nigerians and this is painful.

“That President Buhari, who met exchange rate at N197 to $1 said that he is pleased with the economy when exchange rate is now N370 to $1 is a clear indication that the government is being run on his behalf.