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| Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar |
By Fidel Njamanze
Former
Commissioner for Information in Edo State, Prince Kassim Afegbua, on Sunday
described as immoral for former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to
continue to express interest in seeking election in the 2023 presidential
election having attained the retirement age.
“Former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar cannot assume the role of a perpetual candidate or professional
aspirant year in, year out, of the party as though the party was established
for him alone. It defeats all sense of logic for such an old man to attempt
another round of political contestation at a time the general feeling and mood
in the country supports a younger Nigerian from the Southern extraction of the
country.”
He also advised Atiku to quit his
quest for presidency and support a southern Nigerian candidate in the spirit of
fairness, equity and justice that will assuage the feelings of stakeholders
from the Southern part of Nigeria.
“For me, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
should quit his quest for presidency and support a southern Nigerian candidate
in the spirit of fairness, equity and justice, that will assuage the feelings
of stakeholders from the Southern part of Nigeria. It will be against the run
of play and natural justice for any aspirant of Northern extraction to show
interest in the 2023 presidential election within the Peoples' Democratic Party
threshold. It will offend national sentiments, emotions and logic for anyone
from the North to show such interest given our diversities and hetereogenous
political configurations. Given PDP's doctrine of political power balancing and
fairness, it will be against its own unwritten rule to cede the ticket to any
Northern aspirant least of all Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”
In a statement titled “2023: Atiku
and the age of Methuselah politics”, the Edo State People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) chieftain said after the 2019 presidential election, Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar abandoned all the members of the party and sought refuge in far away
Dubai, thus exposing the PDP members to the intimidations, harassment and
threats posed by the desperate APC's power oligarchs.
“It was a case of a General
abandoning his troops in the battle field. Rather than draw strength from his
presence, his absence exposed us to all manner of challenges. He was in Dubai
and left us to our fate. When it mattered most for us to reach out to our
candidate for motivation and necessary encouragement, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
vanished to thin air. Knowing full well that political activities were to take
off, he suddenly resurfaced and became a frontliner in his quest to fly the
party's flag once again. That, to me, amounts to gross political selfishness
and greed, which must not be allowed to flourish in our contemporary
engagements. Even those who are promoters-in-chief of Alhaji Atiku's
aspiration know in their heart of hearts that it is a project that is dead
on arrival.”
Afegbua urged the leadership of
the PDP to rise above board to produce a presidential candidate from the
Southern part of the country to complete the narrative
“Having concluded the convention
of the Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, with a new leadership that looks
promising, the Party will have to rise above board to produce a presidential
candidate from the Southern part of the country to complete the narrative. With
the abysmal performance of President Muhammadu Buhari on account of age,
incompetence and lack of capacity and political will to take deliberate and
sustained action to bail out the country from all manner of challenges, it will
be immoral for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to continue to express interest in seeking
election in the 2023 presidential election having attained the retirement age.
Specifically, Afegbua reaffirmed
his position on power shift come 2023.
“The Southern geopolitical zones
of Nigeria have eminently qualified Nigerians and parade great minds who are
competent and ready to take a shot at the number one job. Those who are
advancing very nebulous theory of seeing the northern population as a stimulant
to win the sympathy of the North against the South are either ignorant of the
real demographics or at best, just playing the ostrich. No one in the North
should take away what belongs to the South. That will be hurting the
consciences and feelings of the average southerner. If the argument is to
suffice for example, for an Atiku presidency, he will be finishing his first term
of four years at age 81. And were he to become a candidate in 2023 again, and
per adventure he loses the election, are we, as PDP, going to reserve the
position for him or any other Northerner in 2027? These are very curious
scenarios which cannot be overlooked. For 2023, an Atiku candidacy will be like
promoting an expired product in the face of very compelling reason to look down
South in our quest to wrestle power from the fractured APC.”
He urged Atiku and other Northern
aspirants to support the aspiration of upwardly mobile and younger elements
from the South to fly the PDP flag
“Earlier last year, I was
conscripted into the Technical Committee for Atiku presidency. Having attended three
meetings of the group, I found my spirit and conscience permanently in conflict
with the ethos of justice, fairness and equity, which the south deserves. A
Nigerian of southern extraction deserves to be given unfettered opportunity to
represent the party in the 2023 presidential contest. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and
his northern aspirants should support the aspiration of upwardly mobile and
younger elements from the South to fly the PDP flag. Anything short of such
will be tantamount to standing logic on its head, and a deliberate attempt to
undermine the collective interest and aspirations of the Southern aspirants. I
will therefore implore the new management and members of the National Executive
Committee of the PDP as well as the National Working Committee to speak with
one voice in ensuring that the South is given what is due to it. Doing that
will mean promoting the fundamental principles of democracy of all
inclusiveness and participation. Let it be known that I will not hesitate to
commence the process of mobilizing, sensitizing and conscientizing like minds
and team up with other stakeholders to drum up the necessary support that will
birth a Southern candidate for the party. Justice should not only be served, it
must be seen to have been served.”
“Nigerians in their millions are
tired of seeing the faces of persons who have dominated the political space in
the last forty years and yet, unwilling to take a bow. In the spirit of the new
thinking and paradigm shift, please tell them to allow us to breathe” he added.
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