The Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress are trading blames on what transpired in Kaduna when the PDP presidential candidate addressed Arewa elite groups last week.
The Pond news serves you the two different versions of the same event. Happy reading
Atiku attack on our national unity, repulsive -APC
In a statement at the Arewa town hall policy dialogue in Kaduna, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) declared that “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who is from the North … he doesn’t need a Yoruba Candidate or an Ibo Candidate”
Atiku’s statement is a decisive attack on our 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.
Atiku’s words ring loud of extreme and mindless desperation, 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.
What is even more confounding is that this Presidential Candidate of the PDP has touted himself to be on a mission to unify Nigeria. The cat has finally been let out of the bag of him that pays lip service to unity while working hard to undermine our national unity. Our Northern citizens and patriots know far better than what Atiku thinks, and will not walk down that slippery slope with him.
Evidently, Atiku seeks to inflict on Nigeria discord and strife of a worse kind than he has inflicted on his PDP. Against the dictates of his party’s constitution on the principle of power rotation between and North and South of Nigeria, Atiku wrested 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 national unity, equity and fairness. That is what Nigeria needs, now and ever.
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.
Barr. Felix Morka
National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Don’t miss quote Atiku
Why North Needs A Pan-Nigerian Leader -PDP
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has said that the credential of national inclusivity, not ethnicity should be an ideal that the Northern part of the country should examine in electing a new president for the country in the 2023 elections.
Atiku made the remarks when he featured as a guest of the Arewa Joint Committee interactive sessions with various presidential candidates of political parties on Saturday in Kaduna.
He noted that with a political career that spans more than three decades, he stands shoulder high as a Northerner who has built bridges of unity across the country.
“I have been in politics for more than three decades and I am a Northerner. So, if you ask me why I am the best candidate to lead Nigeria in 2023, I will simply say that what Nigeria needs is a pan-Nigerian president, not whether he is Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa-Fulani”.
The session, which took place at the Arewa House was attended by high ranking leaders of various North based socio-cultural bodies.
Atiku, while delivering his speech at the event, highlighted the key policy agendas which he seeks to pursue if elected president to include promoting national unity through deliberate actions that will secure mutual trust and confidence amongst all tendencies.
The other policy areas that the former Vice President enumerated are reforms in education, agriculture and reversing the economic downturn of the country.
Signed:
Paul Ibe
Media Adviser to Atiku Abubakar
Presidential candidate of the PDP
