The ruling All Progressives Congress has condemned in strong terms the statement credited to the Presidential candidate of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party Alhaji Atiku Abubakar at a town hall dialogue over the weekend.
In a statement at the dialogue which held in Kaduna, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) declared that “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who is from the North … he doesn’t need a Yoruba Candidate or an Ibo Candidate”.
The ruling party described the statement as “a decisive attack on our national unity”, adding that ” it is not surprising coming from a desperate and serial failed Candidate for the office of President”.
” It is beyond the pale for a senior citizen and a former Vice President of the Federal Republic to so brazenly instigate strife and disunity in our country in pursuit of his befuddled political self interest.
“If, as Atiku believes, the average Northerner needs a Northern President now, after a Northern President, when will they ever not need a Northern President? What does Atiku think the average Southerner needs? Why is it about what the average Northerner needs, or even what the average Southerner may need? Why is it not about what Nigeria and Nigerians need? Nigerians need bold and visionary leadership anchored on a firm commitment to transcendental national unity, over and above ethnic or sectional obsessions.
The party contended that with such a mindset, Nigerians must be careful not to vote for him at the upcoming elections scheduled for February 2023.
“Atiku’s words ring loud of extreme and mindless desperation, and such an extremely desperate man cannot and must not be entrusted with the most important job of President – a job which core duty is that of leading, uniting and working in the best interest of all in an ethno-religious pluralistic society as Nigeria. Our country does not need this kind of highly inflammable rhetoric now or ever.
“What is even more confounding is that this Presidential Candidate of the PDP has touted himself to be on a mission to unify Nigeria. The cat has finally been let out of the bag of him that pays lip service to unity while working hard to undermine our national unity. Our Northern citizens and patriots know far better than what Atiku thinks, and will not walk down that slippery slope with him.
To lend credence to its claim about Atiku’s desperation, the APC spokesman, Barrister Felix Morka, traced the quirky process of his emergence as his party’s standard bearer accusing him of attempt to foment strife and discord on the nation.
“Evidently, Atiku seeks to inflict on Nigeria discord and strife of a worse kind than he has inflicted on his PDP. Against the dictates of his party’s constitution on the principle of power rotation between and North and South of Nigeria, Atiku wrested Presidential Candidacy and left his party in fractious disability.
Morka went on to use the opportunity to promote his party and Presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In direct contrast to Atiku’s schismatic tendency, our Northern Progressive APC Governors stood valiantly in support of the emergence of a Southern Presidential Candidate of our Party in demonstration of patriotic commitment to national unity, equity and fairness. That is what Nigeria needs, now and ever.
“And that is the commitment that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, our Presidential Candidate brings in his aspiration to serve as President. As Governor of Lagos State, his executive cabinet was a rare and admirable reflection of ethnic and religious diversity. We are confident he will enthrone equity, fairness, inclusion, and unity as operating national policy when elected as President in next year’s general election, as we urge Nigerians to do.