The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has been accused by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of dividing Nigeria and causing the worst type of violence if elected in 2023.
The party issued this statement in response to a contentious remark made by Atiku on Saturday during the Arewa town hall policy dialogue in Kaduna.
In a widely shared video of the occasion, Atiku declared, “What the average Northerner wants is somebody who is from the North; he doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Ibo candidate.”
APC National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka, responded in a statement on Sunday, calling what Atiku said a clear attack on national unity.
“Atiku’s remarks are a resounding assault on our sense of national togetherness. For a senior citizen and a former vice president of the Federal Republic to so openly sow division and strife in our nation in the name of his confused political self interest is above the limit.
But it is not shocking coming from a desperate and repeatedly unsuccessful presidential contender. When will the typical Northerner no longer require a Northern President if, as Atiku contends, they do so now and in the future? What does Atiku believe that the typical Southerner requires? Why does it matter what the typical Northerner or even the typical Southerner could need?
Why doesn’t this discussion center on what Nigeria and Nigerians need? Nigeria needs strong, visionary leadership that is committed to transcendental national unity rather than preoccupations with ethnic or sectional identities.
Such a man cannot and must not be trusted with the most important position of President, a post whose primary obligation is that of leading, uniting, and working in the best interests of all in an ethno-religious pluralistic nation as Nigeria. Atiku’s comments ring loudly of excessive and thoughtless desperation. This kind of incredibly explosive speech is not what our nation needs right now or ever.
“What is even more perplexing is that this PDP presidential candidate has positioned himself as someone who is working to bring Nigeria together. The person who talks about national unity while actively seeking to undermine it has finally let the cat out of the bag.
Atiku does not understand our Northern residents’ and patriots’ knowledge, and they will not follow him down that precarious path.
Atiku wants to cause more division and trouble in Nigeria than he has done to his PDP. Atiku seized the presidency and left his party in disarray, violating the requirements of his party’s constitution on the principle of power rotation between the North and South of Nigeria.
“Our Northern Progressive APC Governors stood bravely in favor of the emergence of a Southern Presidential Candidate of our Party in evidence of patriotic devotion to national unity, equality, and fairness—in direct contrast to Atiku’s schismatic tendencies. Nigeria requires that now and always.
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“And that’s the devotion our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, brings to his desire to hold the office of President. His executive cabinet as governor of Lagos State was a rare and admirable example of ethnic and religious diversity.
When chosen as President in the general election of next year, “we are convinced he will enthrone equality, fairness, inclusiveness, and unity as operating national policy, as we ask Nigerians to do.”
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