Keyamo demands Atiku’s withdrawal from 2023 presidential race for playing ethnic card during campaign

The spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo (SAN), on Saturday asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to withdraw from the 2023 presidential race over alleged ethnic sentiment.

Keyamo, who made the call on his Twitter handle, on Saturday, accused the former vice President of bringing ethnic bias to his campaign.

The minister of state for labour and employment was reacting to a statement credited to Atiku during an interactive session with the Arewa Joint Committee on Saturday in Kaduna State.

The PDP candidate had declared at the forum that an average Northerner needs someone who has built bridges across the country, and not a Yoruba, or Igbo candidate.

READ ALSO: Keyamo asks Ayu, Atiku pertinent questions, as PDP flags off presidential campaign

He said¨“I have traversed the whole of this country, I know the whole of the country, I have built bridges across the country.

“What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the north and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country. This is what the Northerner needs, it doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate, I stand before you as a Pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”

In his reaction, Keyamo noted that Atiku’s ethnic card showed the height of his desperation to win the presidential election next year.

He added that it was horrible for the ex-Vice President to use an ethnic card in the campaign.

Keyamo wrote: “This is the height of desperation & daredevilry on the part of Atiku!

“This is so horrendous, so horrible and so thoughtless for Atiku Abubakar to use ethnicity to campaign, saying the North does not need a YORUBA OR IBO candidate. My God! Atiku needs to quit the race TODAY!”

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