By Myke Uzendu, Abuja
Former Spokesperson of the 2019 Presidential election of Atiku Abubakar, Kassim Afegbua, has advised his principal to perish the thoughts of getting the Presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023.
Afegbua further faulted Atiku on claims that he will always get the Presidential ticket of the PDP just as he advised him to leave the stage and throw his support for a younger candidate from the South, arguing that it will be unfair for the North to dream of occupying the presidential Villa for 16 years.
Afegbua made his position known in a statement on Sunday while reacting to a statement credited to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar where he boasted that he would always get the presidential ticket of the PDP.
Afegbua explained that it is time for the former Vice President to retire from active politics and strengthen the structures of the party for more electoral victories . He lamented that the only thing that bothers Atiku is his Presidential aspiration and was no where to be found when the party campaigned for the bye election in Cross River state, Akure, Ondo state, and Imo state.
“Let me remind the former flagbearer of the PDP, that since formation, he has only represented the party once; in the 2019 presidential contest. So the claim that he had always gotten the ticket of the Party is a big lie. In 2007, when he attempted the ticket of the party, he was shown the exit door. In 2011, he used another party platform to.pursue his ambition. In 2015, yet again, he tried to use the platform of the All Progressives’ Congress, and he was beaten roundly at the Lagos convention. That was the primary election that saw the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as the candidate of the APC. It was only in 2019 that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar emerged as the candidate of the PDP at the PortHarcourt convention when it was decided by the Southern aspirants to allow an All-Northern aspirants to contest the primary election. So the claim that “I will always get the ticket of the PDP”, flies in the face of logic, fact and reality” he said.
Afegbua explained that it is the turn of the Southern part of Nigeria to produce the candidate of the PDP in 2023 insisting that anything short of that will amount to usurping the opportunity, position and chance of the Southern axis to produce the party’s candidate and a direct assault on the zone.
“In 2023, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should be thinking of how to support younger Nigerians from the South of the country to pursue the presidential aspiration of the opposition party. Alhaji Atiku has always supported zoning and should not play the ostrich this time because of his selfish aspiration. Power cannot reside in the Northern axis for 16 unbroken years. That will be against the normative order, against justice, fairness and equity. The opposition PDP must copy from the ruling APC in ceding its ticket to the South as a form of gentleman agreement that will promote peace, unity, cohesion and collective responsibility within the party”.
He advised the opposition party not to make the mistake of 2019 when Atiku abandoned all his foot-soldiers and sought refuge in far away Dubai when his election crashed mintaining that a true political General ought to secure his troops and return them to the barracks after the war to carry out critical assessment before knowing the next step.
“Alhaji Abubakar ran away to Dubai and exposed all of us to the threats and intimidation of the monstrous APC in 2019. Such a leader cannot be trusted with the responsibility of representing our aggregate interest in the struggle for 2023. No amount of closed door meetings with former leaders can change the oscillation of the political pendulum in 2023. Except he’s being deceived, no former president would support an Atiku presidency, at a time they all have spoken loudly about fielding younger President in 2023.
“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should statesmanly subscribe to the mood of the nation by jettisoning the selfish pressure from those hangers-on and political coupon clippers and rentiers” Afegbua stated.
