The All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was seeking to inflict on Nigeria, discord and strife of a worse kind than he has inflicted on his party.
APC also said that against the dictates of the PDP’s constitution on the principle of power rotation between and northern and southern Nigeria, Atiku wrested presidential candidacy and left his party in fractious disability.
The ruling party said this in reaction to a statement credited to the PDP presidential candidate at the Arewa town hall policy dialogue in Kaduna on Saturday that; “What the average northerner needs is somebody who is from the north … he doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Ibo candidate.”
Felix Morka, APC national publicity secretary in a statement on Sunday said, Atiku’s declaration is a decisive attack on Nigeria’s national unity.
Morka said, it is beyond the pale for a senior citizen and a former vice president of Nigeria to so brazenly instigate strife and disunity in the country in pursuit of his befuddled political self interest.
“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.
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“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.
“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,” the statement read further.
