We need a Nigerian, not a sectional President, Tinubu-Shettima Campaign Council replies Atiku

Members of the Tinubu-Shettima Media Directorate have described as unacceptable and insulting, remarks attributed to the Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar at the weekend in Kaduna.

Speaking at the Arewa Policy Dialogue, Atiku had said the average Northerner needs a presidential candidate of Northern extraction.

Former Aviation Minister and Director of Special Media Projects and Operations, Femi Fani Kayode said the statement attributed to Atiku Abubakar did not represent the position of the average Northerner.

“Atiku does not speak for the North, he speaks for his deluded and blind PDP supporters and his PCC.”

Fani Kayode maintained that most Northerners share the position that power should shift to the Southern part of the country after eight years tenure of the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari.

He said: “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 8 years of Northern/Fulani rule and now this man (Atiku) says we must have another 8 years of it because that is what is ‘best for the North’.

“Most northern do not believe this and thankfully they, unlike Atiku and members of his divided party do not see Southerns as slaves and they regard us all as being equal.

“We will not allow Atiku to do to us what he did to Wike. We will not be cheated or denied.

“It is time for power to shift to the South and an overwhelming number of the people in the North and certainly all the Northerns in the APC believe that. They recognise the fact that if we want our nation to continue to enjoy the peace and remain united into the distant future. We must be fair in our dealings with one another.

“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.

“Atiku does not speak for the North, he speaks for his deluded and blind PDP supporters and his PCC.

“Nigeria does not need a Northern or Southern President, she needs a Nigerian President and Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that President.”

In a separate statement, the Director, Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, accused Atiku of recourse to ethnic jingo in the face of imminent defeat.

“The statement of Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku to the effect that Northerners don’t need a Yoruba or Igbo president is the worst expression of ethnocentric opportunism ever uttered by a former Nigerian Vice President.

“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, with a similar mindset, has cast himself as a northern candidate, who should solely be supported by the people from his region.

“We view Atiku’s public declaration which framed him as an ethnic and regional champion as unbecoming for a man who was once a Vice-President of Nigeria.”

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