Atiku wants to divide Nigeria the way he divided PDP, says APC
The All Progressives Congress APC has lambasted the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for the comments he made at the weekend in Kaduna.
The presidential candidate was reported to have said that the average northerner needs to support a northern president and they should not support a Yoruba or Igbo president.
The APC revealed that Atiku is evidently trying to sow seed of discord and strife among the people of Nigeria.
“Against the dictates of his party’s constitution on the principle of power rotation between and North and South of Nigeria, Atiku wrestled Presidential Candidacy and left his party in fractious disability.
“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 our national unity, equity and fairness. That is what Nigeria needs, now and ever”, APC said in a statement on Sunday by its spokesman, Felix Morka.
While expressing himself at the Arewa town hall policy dialogue in Kaduna, the former vice president allegedly said that “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who is from the North … he doesn’t need a Yoruba Candidate or an Igbo Candidate”.
The ruling party has stated that the statement of Atiku is a direct attack on national unity.
“It is beyond the pale for a senior citizen and a former Vice President of the Federal Republic to so brazenly instigate strife and disunity in our 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” he stated.
“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”.
“Our Northern citizens and patriots know far better than what Atiku thinks, and will not walk down that slippery slope with him.
“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”, APC stated.
