The Labour Party (LP) has slammed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar for mocking the people of South-East with his promise to be stepping stone for the region’s presidential aspiration.
Atiku had earlier at a rally in Awka, Anambra State pleaded with the Igbos to vote for him, saying that he was the best route to the realisation of Igbo presidency in 2027.
The party’s national vice chairman (South East), Innocent Okeke in a statement on Thursday, described Atiku’s statement as insensitive, adding that it was an insult for him to ask Igbos to vote for the continuation of the Northern-Fulani-Muslim-ticket when the South East region was yet to experience the presidency.
He noted that Atiku is employing old and outdated political tricks that were bound to fail as Ndigbo are awake and tired of playing second fiddle in a country where they are a major stakeholder.
He said, “While a Northern Buhari completing eight years in Aso Rock next year, had Atiku any modicum of integrity, he wouldn’t have contested for the president let alone asking votes from the South and Ndigbo particularly.
“If Atiku is not up to spite Ndigbo as he usually does, if he believes he is the stepping stone for Ndigbo to take their rightful place, why is he still in this presidential race? He claims to be a unifier whereas he defiles equity which is the most potent unifying factor in Nigeria.
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“Funnily enough, Atiku is among those that designed the agreement of rotation in 1999, and has witnessed it go round and now the indisputable right of Ndigbo, why does he want to change the goalpost in the middle of a match? This is unacceptable.
“One would recall that in respect to the principle of rotation and zoning arrangement which have been instituted, no southerner and no Igbo man opposed Atiku and Buhari both of whom are from the north. It was a battle between a Northerner and another as the South patriotically watched from the sideline.
“Now it is the turn of the south and the Southeast precisely, why is Atiku contesting and at the same time coming to the East with intention to insult and mock them?” He queried.
The vice chairman further stated that the “Igbo want to be president because they want to fix the Nigeria that has been damaged over the years. They have presented one of their best whose positive record as a governor is overwhelming.
“As we look forward to a new Nigeria emerging from reality and faith, no one should take these elements that have been architects of Nigeria’s problems seriously.
“You can not go to Kaduna and reveal that an average northerner will not vote a president from South, and repeat that average northerner will not like to vote Igbo or Yoruba, only to come to Awka and say you are a stepping stone. Who do you want to deceive?
“Atiku should be advised to withdraw from the presidential race, work on himself and purge away the old conspiracies that he and his cohorts have been using to teach their younger ones hate and disunity. This is the only practical way to be a unifier.”
