‘Wike angry with Atiku over breach of PDP’s constitution,’ says VON chief, Okechukwu

The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, declared on Sunday that former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s 2023 presidential bid would fail because it was against the principle of power rotation in the country.

Okechukwu, stated this in a chat with journalists in Abuja, said the decision of APC governors from the North to cede the presidency to the South ahead of the party’s convention on June 4 was aimed at uniting the country.

He added that the River State Governor, Nyesom Wike’s major grievance against the former Vice President was the breach of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) principle on power rotation.

Atiku and Wike had been at loggerhead since the conclusion of the PDP presidential primary won by the former on May 28.

He said: “After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC presidential candidate for 2023 election should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria.

“It is a question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in anyway affected by the decisions taken by another political party. We affirm that upholding this principle is in the interest of building a stronger, more united and more progressive country.”

Okechukwu also recalled former President Oluegun Obasanjo’s statement on the matter.

He stressed that it would be a herculean task for Atiku to defeat the APC Northern Governors’ Forum, Buhari, Obasanjo and other eminent Nigerians who supported power shift from North to South.

READ ALSO: VON DG, Okechukwu, mocks Atiku’s candidacy, praises APC northern govs

The VON chief added: “My take is that Atiku is not a unifier and cannot defeat the Northern Governors’ Forum, Buhari, Obasanjo, Ayo Adebanjo, Edwin Clark, and the sophisticated northern electorate by his mission to win by dividing the North and the South.

“It is an unforced error to think that he can manipulate our fault lines and the abundance of unifier patriots of the North. The Northern electorate are very sophisticated, they voted for Zik, Abiola and Obasanjo.

“Truly, take it or leave it, Governor Nyesom Wike’s main grouse is Atiku’s violent breach of PDP’s Constitution, manipulation of Governor Aminu Tambuwal and our fault lines.

“My bet is that the wound of Machiavellian dosage Atiku infested the PDP is not likely going to heal before 2023 presidential election.

“These unifier patriotic forces won’t allow him no matter his gusto to trample and rubbish the good works of patriots who sacrificed their presidential ambition and instituted the rotation convention in our political firmament.

“Obasanjo as a unifier nationalist dropped Sir Peter Odili in 2006 to maintain the unity of North and South. Atiku has the freedom to cherry-pick the laws and conventions of his fancy; however the truism is that Atiku is not a unifier, because he failed to adhere to the federal character principle, which is our own variant of affirmative action that is observed in liberal democracy globally. This is the yardstick of measurement of character.

“Remember that before the APC Northern Governors’ Forum were unifier elder statesmen – Alhaji Abubukar Rimi, Umaru Shinkafi, Adamu Ciroma and Dr.Sola Saraki et al, who for equity, unity, fairness and enthronement of sense of belonging dropped their presidential ambition in 1999. They placed the unity of Nigeria above self.

“Please, don’t forget that we have unforgettable unification lessons. One, is that Atiku violently breached PDP’s Constitution, which expressly provided for rotation of power. This places in doubt his unifier claim.

“Secondly, he decamped to APC in 2014 on the pretext that former President Goodluck Jonathan breached power rotation to the North. Then it was the turn of the North, not now.

“Thirdly, in 2018 unifiers nationalists like Wike obliged PDP Northerners an open field, when all southerners in obedience to rotation convention did not participate in the PDP presidential primary in Port Harcourt. He was the main beneficiary.

“Fourthly, Senators Iyorchia Ayu and Abdullahi Adamu, both Northerners were elected as chairmen of PDP and APC respectively and these were anchored on the sure foot – Turn of the South.”

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