The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar came under attacks from many quarters over his call for a northern presidency in 2023 at the weekend.
Atiku had said only a northern presidency is desirable, stating Nigerians don’t need a Yoruba or Igbo to become president.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said Atiku’s statement was an attack on national unity.
Its Presidential Campaign Council said the former Vice President’s declaration has framed him as an ethnic and regional champion.
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode said the former Vice President was provocative and self-serving.
In a statement at the Arewa town hall policy dialogue in Kaduna, Atiku said: “What the average Northerner needs are somebody who is from the North … he doesn’t need a Yoruba Candidate or an Igbo candidate”.
Reacting to Atiku, the National Publicity Secretary of APC, Barrister Felix Morka in a statement in Abuja on Sunday said the outburst of the PDP flag bearer was a repulsive act of desperation capable of instigating strife and disunity in the country.
Morka said: “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.”
The APC spokesman who said he was surprised that such a statement emanated from “a desperate and serial failed candidate for the office of President” argued that, “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 whose 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.”
The APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) said Atiku’s statement was the worst expression of ethnocentric opportunism ever uttered by a former Vice President.
