All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has described the loss suffered by the presidential candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar as a ripe opportunity for the former vice president to resign from active politics
Okechukwu in a statement he issued Sunday in Abuja, blamed the political misfortune of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) in the just concluded presidential election on Atiku Abubakar’s opportunism.
He also regretted that it was the the Atiku’s desperation and crass opportunism that led to PDP’s defeat in the election
“Imagine what could have been the result of 2023 presidential election if it was mainly between APC and PDP?” Okechukwu said, adding that Atiku allowed his entitlement mentality to becloud his sense of judgment.
He wondered why Atiku wanted to deceive Nigerians with false narrative that Obi rushed out of PDP when in actual fact it was Atiku’s insistence to contest against the zoning principle that propelleed Obi to find alternative platform.
The VON DG recalled how the former Vice President brought his opportunism to APC to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari for the APC presidential ticket in 2014 on the patriotic premise of rotation convention.
”Now, for Atiku to play the blame game by bellyaching Peter Obi, who turned out as hero of 2023 presidential election, is quite distressing.
“How can Atiku claim that Obi was scared out by PDP governors, when it was public knowledge that his huge war-chest and competition with Nyesom Wike that made PDP’s primary too contentious and corrupt for Peter Obi?
“It was actually Atiku’s opportunism that eclipsed the PDP and halted Obi’s hurricane.The simple truth is that Atiku’s opportunism eclipsed the PDP,” he argued.
He pleaded with Atiku to retire honourably from active politics instead of playing the sore loser and sulking publicly with false narratives.
“Here was a man who in 2014 defected to APC, on the patriotic premise that the then president, Goodluck Jonathan breached the rotation convention between north and south. Today, he violently breached the same rotation convention and the constitution of his party with lamentation outcome,” Okechukwu noted.
while accusing Atiku of telling inconvenient lies about the real reason behind Peter Obi’s exit from PDP, Okechukwu, said that the former Vice President contradicted his media aides.
He therefore challenged Atiku to come clean on whether Obi was truly scared off by PDP governors or as first narrated by Atiku’s team that he wanted to back Obi, but for Governor Nyemson Wike’s intransigence.
Okechukwu said Nigerians still remember how, in an attempt to defend Atiku’s brazen breach of rotation convention, Atiku’s team serially argued that he wanted to support Obi, but changed his mind when he learnt that Wike was against micro-zoning to the Southeast.
“We have heard from the horse’s mouth. It is a crystal clear case of opportunism that drove the Waziri Adamawa into presidential race. Now, this mindless opportunism has not only buried the PDP, but also halted Obi’s hurricane that could have extended to far north.
“The cardinal question is why didn’t Atiku deploy his huge war-chest to back Obi? How on earth did he expect Obi to be a perpetual running mate to him, even when he had approached Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to drop his presidebtial ambition to run with him? Opportunism is the answer,” the DG VON asserted.
