By using our website, you agree to the use of our cookies.

Advertisement

2023 GOVERNORSHIP AND
STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS

  • days
  • Hours
  • Minutes
  • Seconds
🇳🇬 👍 🇳🇬
Atiku opens up on Tinubu, Obi
Politics

Atiku opens up on Tinubu, Obi

Advertisement

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar has spoken extensively on the presidential aspirations of the presidential candidate of the All progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as that of the Labour Party’s presidential flag-bearer, Peter Obi.

He also assured that the PDP National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu will step down if he (Atiku) wins the presidential election next year.

Advertisement

In an interview on Arise TV on Friday, the former Vice President said: “If the elected president is from the north and the party chairman happens to be from the north, automatically, the party chairmanship should revert to the south. If I am elected the president, automatically, Ayu will step down. There is also a general misunderstanding because PDP is different from APC. In the PDP administration, the south has had the highest number of years when the PDP was in office, so we need to separate these two so that we can be rational in our argument,” he said.

The former VP said that during his campaign in 2007, his “fundamental disagreement” with the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, was because he (Tinubu) wanted to be his running mate and he refused because he didn’t want a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket

“Remember, I opted out of PDP because of zoning, and together with Asiwaju we formed CAN. Tinubu wanted to be my running mate when I was given the ACN presidential ticket in 2007, but I disagreed and because of that, he switched his support to the late Umar Yar’Adua. That was the parting point.

Advertisement

“The Muslim-Muslim ticket has always been my fundamental disagreement. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation, and there should be a religious balance in our leadership. We are still friends, of course. But that doesn’t mean we won’t have political differences. We have been having political differences ever since we became friends. Nothing unusual about that,” he said.

He also revealed that Obi who was his running mate in the 2019 election didn’t inform him of his intention to declare for president and only did so three days after his (Obi’s) declaration.

“It is very difficult to expect a miracle to happen, simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party. After all, they were saying through social media that they had more than one million votes in Osun State. But how many votes turned out for the Labour Party? And then again, mark you, you’re talking about social media. In the north, 90 per cent of our people are not tuned to social media,” Atiku said.

Atiku said he picked the governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa over the governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike because he believes the former can ‘deliver’.

Advertisement

“I didn’t reject Wike, I picked who can deliver. Going by history, I had picked an Igbo as running mate in 2007, in 2019. I still picked an Igbo for 2023. The committee that was set up at my own instance deliberated. There was no vote, and they recommended three names, because they knew it was my prerogative to pick anyone of the three. So, there was actually no vote. It’s not true.

“Governor Ortom himself chaired that committee. He knew there was no vote taken, and I have the report of that committee. The committee recommended three people and I picked one. I did not go out of that recommendation. So, I think people should be fair to me and should also state the fact,” he added.

Atiku however said that he was reaching out to Governor Wike and that the party stakeholders will soon reconcile with the aggrieved Rivers state governor.

Advertisement

When asked what the chances of former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi who is now the presidential candidate of the Labour Party is, Atiku said Obi would be unable to win the election even in the South East because the party has no structure.

On his relationship with former Presidential Olusegun Obasanjo, he said he has been talking to the former president and that the only thing he has yet to do was to visit him after his emergence as the PDP presidential candidate.

When asked if he needs Obasanjo’s support, Atiku said: “Why will I not need his support? He was my former boss. Why will I not need his support? Of course I will need his support. I assume I have it.”

(Sun)


Disclaimer

Contents provided and/or opinions expressed here do not reflect the opinions of The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine or any employee thereof.

Support The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

It takes a lot to get credible, true and reliable stories.

As a privately owned media outfit, we believe in setting the pace and leaving strides in time.

If you like what we do, you can donate a token to us here. Your support will ensure that the right news is put out there at all times, reaching an unlimited number of persons at no cost to them.

Related posts

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *