Polls: Red Card Movement adopts Atiku/Obi

THE presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, secured the endorsement the Red Card Movement (RCM) as the group formerly led by Dr Oby Ezekwesili adopted him as its choice for the presidency in the coming election.

The movement said it made the move because it believes that it is only the PDP that can unseat President Muhammadu Buhari from power.

The co-Chairman of the group, Dr Tony Akabuno, who disclosed this in a press briefing in Abuja, said RCM has dissociated itself from Ezekwesili who recently ended her run for the presidency under the Action Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN).

He said the decision to back Atiku was reached after its state representatives (state champions) resolved to ensure that the President Buhari’s administration is voted out.

He said:  “After several failed attempts by RCM, at midwifing a coalition of the alternatives, our members that are on the ground(State champions) at a meeting with co-conveners,  last week, resolved that the primary focus should be how to ensure that the present Buhari led regime is voted out of power.

“The state champions confirmed that the reality of what is on the field(feedback from our structures and members in the States, LGA, Wards and polling units) is that only the opposition party (PDP) has the capacity to dislodge Buhari.

“The state champions were basically saying that our red card should be to Buhari and the current president and to APC as the ruling party. As the co-chair of RCM, I decided to align with our foot soldiers. Some co-conveners also supported this position of focusing on reviewing the performance of the leadership in power, and not be distracted with historical performance of past regimes.

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“Some co-conveners were of the opinion that we should not get into any arrangement with PDP. These ones suggested a “Siddon look approach”. They appealed to me, as one that is very close to the state champions, to persuade our leaders across the federation to desist from supporting the Atiku/Obi ticket.

“But as a pragmatic political strategist and the peoples’ general, I had no choice than to reject the inferior argument of some co-coveners and strongly aligned with our state champions, who are in sync with the grassroots.

“We believe that it is myopic and grandiose delusion for anyone to think that any other political party can dislodge this failed APC, apart from PDP.”

The movement dismissed allegations of corruption peddled against the PDP presidential flag bearer, saying that those with such opinion are envious of the former Vice President.

While noting that Buhari has failed, he observed that the coming election is a defining moment for the country.

Akabuno stated: “We feel that those who demonize His Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, are either envious, hateful or ignorant. This is a man that has never been indicted by any court of competent jurisdiction anywhere in the world. This is one man that has successful businesses and was a good VP that supervised one of the best economic teams that Nigeria has ever assembled under President Obasanjo.

“We all know the constitutional powers of a VP in Nigeria. Those who claim Atiku has failed in the past, are not sincere enough to know that this man has never been president before. They criticize Atiku but remain silent on Obasanjo. That is clear hypocrisy.

“Atiku is a successful businessman that understands governance because he learnt a lot from one of our great presidents, Obasanjo. And he has a running mate in the person of Peter Obi, that has practicalized Character, Competence & Capacity. We are convinced that Atiku led regime will assemble a good management team and ultimately restructure Nigeria.

“Alh. Abubakar Atiku is a pan Nigerian. He understands the peculiarities of each region and the tribes therein. Atiku will not run an administration for a few. Alhaji Atiku is also not a religious bigot.

“Atiku’s policies will take Nigeria out of the woods and put the country back on track. Atiku’s promise of restructuring the nation and provision of jobs for the unemployed are key to a nation’s development and the Red Card Movement is ready to lend our weight behind the PDP candidate in order not to have a repeat of the 2015 scenario. We are on the same page with Atiku and whatever we do, we do it well.

“The coming election will be a defining moment in the political history of our country. Buhari has failed in all his cardinal programmes of improving the economy, provision of adequate security and fighting corruption. He has instead been playing politics with corruption. We cannot perform experiment with the presidency. This is not about Buhari but about the future of the country. The question is if we want the status quo to remain or if we want a change.”