The Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organisation, yesterday, said Nigeria did not need a leader, whose idea of development was to move the country from a rotten to a bad state. It was a reference to the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The campaign team of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, alleged that Tinubu represented the greatest threat to national cohesion and democratic norms. It dismissed allegations by APC that the PDP presidential candidate was playing ethnic politics, saying in a statement by one of its spokespersons, Kola Ologbondiyan, that the ruling party’s comments best describes Tinubu.
But the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) insisted that Atiku’s assertions on Saturday in Kaduna, during an interactive session of the Arewa Townhall Policy Dialogue, were irresponsible and unbecoming of a former vice president of the country.
Atiku, who hails from Adamawa State, in the North-east geopolitical zone, had been quoted as telling his audience in the North-west state of Kaduna, “I have traversed the whole of this country. I know the whole of this country. I have built bridges across this country.
“I think what the average northerner needs is somebody who is from the north, who also understands the other parts of Nigeria, and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country.
“This is what the northerner needs. He doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
The statement was followed by a backlash of angry feelings among Nigerians, particularly, on the social media.
Nonetheless, Tinubu indicated his intention to honour an invitation for an interactive session with some northern leaders under the auspices of Arewa Joint Committee.
Moreover, PDP said it was undeterred by alleged plots by those it described as anti-democratic forces to cause tension and disrupt its presidential rally today in Kaduna State. It claimed such forces were uncomfortable and unhappy with the success of the party’s on-going reconciliation efforts, stability, and popularity.
At the same time, Director-general of the Atiku campaign and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, called on the various PDP support groups in the state to embark on door-to-door campaign for the success of the party at all levels in the 2023 general election.
Similarly, the Anambra State chapter of APC said it had commenced grassroots mobilisation for Tinubu’s victory as well as the success of all other candidates contesting on the party’s platform in the 2023 elections.
However, condemning APC for attacking the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku’s campaign claimed its candidate “is known across the length and breath of our nation as a symbol of cohesion, unity and purposeful collaboration”.
The PDP campaign council stated, “For the avoidance of doubt, certainly, Nigeria does not need a leader, who would move the country from a rotten situation to a bad one.
“If anything, Tinubu has been an apostle of regional politics, where ethnicity and division along religious lines are dominant. As a matter of fact, his contemporary politics showcases a blatant disregard for ethnic groupings other than his.
“Nigerians have not forgotten past elections, where compatriots, who did not share in Tinubu’s ethnic-based political beliefs and proclivities were threatened that they will be chased into the ocean.
“Neither have Nigerians forgotten the threats of ejection from Lagos on the political opponents of Tinubu and the wanton destruction of electoral materials in areas, where the former governor’s party would not do well.
“In case Tinubu has forgotten, we want to remind him how his disruptive choice of same faith ticket, which he has been propagating since 2007, would have created a huge division and disaffection among compatriots but for the intervention of eminent Nigerians.
“Does Tinubu think that Nigerians have overlooked his arrogant display of ethnic proclivities via his Yorubalokan/Emilokan saga? What could be more divisive than this?
“It is imperative to state that the campaign of calumny against Atiku notwithstanding, he is the pan-Nigerian leader loved and respected across the six geo-political zones of our nation.”
Another statement by Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, said it was regrettable and disingenuous for APC to turn fact on its head regarding the comments of the PDP presidential candidate during a public engagement at the Arewa House on Saturday.
The statement said, “For the benefit of the innocent public, who might be hoodwinked by the usual behaviour of APC in telling a big lie, what transpired was a direct question to Atiku to address the northern audience on why he should be voted for by the northern electorate.
“Atiku started with a joke by addressing the questioner as ‘Mr. Northerner’, which is a veiled criticism of why he limited his question to the northern audience, in the first place.
“Continuing, Atiku explained without a slur, unlike the APC candidate would, that what matters the most to the northern electorate is a candidate, who has built bridges of unity across other parts of the country and not necessarily a northern candidate, who lacks the credentials of national spread and acceptability.
“Those were the unambiguous remarks of the PDP presidential candidate. But because the APC does not possess any tangible ideas to campaign on for their candidate, they resorted to dubious tactics of diverting public attention, first, away from the failures of their party in the past seven years, plus and, secondly, to shift attention away from the embarrassing gaffes of their presidential candidate in his public communication, which they frequently shy away from.
“Of course, a failed political party and a presidential candidate, who cannot withstand five minutes of unscripted speech, would not have anything tangible to talk about other than to resort to irritating scavenging, like they have done in this case.”
‘Atiku’s Statement Irresponsible, Despicable’
The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the APC said the statement credited to the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, was irresponsible.
Atiku had while speaking at the Arewa town hall policy dialogue at the weekend in Kaduna, said, “What the average northerner needs is somebody, who is from the north and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country. This is what the northerner needs; he doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
Director of New Media, PCC, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, in a statement issued yesterday, said most northerners did not share Atiku’s sentiment, adding that, unlike Atiku and members of his party, northerners do not see southerners as slaves, but regard all Nigerians as equal.
Fani-Kayode stated, “Such tomfoolery is rarely not seen from the worst amongst us. Atiku’s words are not only unacceptable but also insulting, irresponsible and despicable.
“This is especially so, given the fact that by next year, we would have had eight years of Northern/Fulani rule and now this man (Atiku) says we must have another eight years of it because that is what is ‘best for the north’.
“Most northerners do not believe this and thankfully they, unlike Atiku and members of his divided party, do not see southerners as slaves and they regard us all as being equal.”
Fani-Kayode noted Nigerians would not allow Atiku do to them what he did to Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, saying, “We will not be cheated or denied.”
He stressed that it was time for power to shift to the south and an overwhelming number of the people in the north and, certainly, all the northerners in APC believed that.
The APC campaign spokesman said, “Atiku is a dying breed, who still sees things from a regional, ethnic and religious prism. Nigeria has moved on from that and she deserves better. Our nation will not accept an ethnic bigot and tribal champion as their president.”
Additionally, Director, Media and Publicity, Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Bayo Onanuga, said Atiku’s statement to the effect that northerners did not need a Yoruba or Igbo president was the worst expression of ethnocentric opportunism ever uttered by a former Nigerian vice president.
Onanuga said, “This, clearly, demonstrates how low a man honoured with the second highest office of the Nigerian constitution is willing to sink in search of a perennial wild goose chase after the highest office in the land.
“It confirms the argument that Atiku has feasted on such base, cheap, primordial sentiments to use the masses and the elite of the north as the ladder to ascend to power since 1989 without any dividends to show.
“In clear terms, Atiku who stole the PDP ticket, by a similar mindset, has cast himself as a northern candidate, who should solely be supported by the people from his region.”