2023: Atiku’s statement an attack on national unity, APC berates PDP presidential candidate

The comment by Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the need for a Northern president has elicited widespread criticism across the polity.

Wading into the situation, the ruling All Progressives Congress has criticized the former Vice-President, in a press statement issued on Sunday, titled “Atiku Abubakar’s Attack On Our National Unity Is A Repulsive Act Of Desperation.”

The statement was signed and issued by the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, in Abuja.

On Saturday, Atiku said northerners need a president who hails from the north. He spoke at the interactive session of the Arewa town hall policy dialogue in Kaduna.

He told his audience which included a significant percentage of persons of Hausa and Fulani extraction, that they don’t need an Igbo or Yoruba as president but “someone from the north”.

However, the ruling party accused Atiku of putting national unity under peril as the 2023 elections loom.

The statement reads, “In a statement at the Arewa town hall policy dialogue 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”

“Atiku’s statement is a decisive attack on our national unity. 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. ”

Morka further slammed the PDP’s candidate for his desperation for power after repeated failed attempts, resorting to parochial sentiments in the process.

Read also:North no longer opposed to restructuring of Nigeria – Atiku

“But it is not surprising coming from a desperate and serial failed Candidate for the office of President.

“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.

“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,” the statement reads.

It further detailed how Atiku flouted the agreed zoning agreement of the PDP which has led to a division within the party, with the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike spearheading the opposition faction.

The statement further disclosed, “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.

“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.”

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