•••SAYS HIS AMBITION AN ATTACK ON ALL BLACK NATIONS, A DISGRACE TO NIGERIANS
•••DEFENDS REMARKS THAT NORTHERNERS NEED SOMEBODY FROM THE NORTH, NOT YORUBA, IGBO
The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has attacked his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, saying his presidential aspiration is an attack on every black nation and a disgrace to Nigerians.
Atiku said that Tinubu lacked the honour to declare his elementary education records.
Atiku who spoke through his Media Aide, Paul Ibe, in a statement on Sunday night was responding to a attack by the APC over his comment at the Arewa House on Saturday that the average northerner needs somebody from the North as President.
“It is even more repugnant that a man who is not honourable enough to make a full disclosure about his elementary education records would ask to be elected a president of the most populous Black nation in the world.
“The very ambition of former governor Tinubu to aspire to become the Nigerian leader is a rude attack on the integrity of every Black country and certainly an act of disgrace to all Nigerians.” The statement read in part
Atiku had declared at a town hall meeting of the Arewa in Kaduna that “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who is from the North … he doesn’t need a Yoruba Candidate or an Ibo Candidate.”
But the All Peoples Congress in its reaction through its spokesman Felix Morka, described the Atiku’s comment as instigating strife, disunity and ethnic sentiments in a multi ethnic, multi religious Nigerian society.
“If, as Atiku believes, the average Northerner needs a Northern President now, after a Northern President, when will they ever not need a Northern President? What does Atiku think the average Southerner needs? Why is it about what the average Northerner needs, or even what the average Southerner may need? Why is it not about what Nigeria and Nigerians need? Nigerians need bold and visionary leadership anchored on a firm commitment to transcendental national unity, over and above ethnic or sectional obsessions.” Morka said
However, Atiku accused the APC of an attempt to distort the facts about what he said in Kaduna in a statement on Sunday night titled ‘the emptiness of failed APC and their entitled candidate.”
Atiku said he was responding to a direct question which was pointedly asked to address the northern audience.
His statement, “It is regrettable to say the least that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would decide to cause a show of shame by a disingenuous attempt to turn fact on its head about what the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar said during a public engagement at the Arewa House on Saturday.
“For the benefit of the innocent public who might be hoodwinked by the usual behavior of APC in telling a big lie, what transpired was a direct question to Atiku to address the Northern audience on why he should be voted for by the Northern electorate.
“In answering this question, Atiku started with a joke by addressing the questioner as ‘Mr. Northerner’ which is a veiled criticism of why he limited his question to the Northern audience in the first place.
“Continuing, Atiku explained without a slur, unlike the APC candidate would, that what matters the most to the Northern electorate is a candidate who has built bridges of unity across other parts of the country and not necessarily a Northern candidate who lacks the credentials of national spread and acceptability.
“Those were the unambiguous remarks of the PDP presidential candidate. But because the APC does not possess any tangible ideas to campaign on for their candidate, they resorted to dubious tactics of diverting public attention, first, away from the failures of their party in the past seven years plus and, secondly, to shift attention away from the embarrassing gaffes of their presidential candidate in his public communication which they frequently shy away from.
“Of course, a failed political party and a presidential candidate who cannot withstand five minutes of unscripted speech would not have anything tangible to talk about other than to resort to irritating scavenging like they have done in this case.
“On the same day when Atiku Abubakar stood agile and cerebral before his hosts at the Arewa House, the APC candidate whose only entitlement for president is because of an ethnic identity claim was also at a public function in Kaduna State and publicly embarrassed his host, Governor Nasir el-Rufai, by saying that he should not contemplate pursuing higher educational qualifications and likening him to ‘a rotten case that has turned into a bad situation.’
“Are we to play to the gallery, we could have rushed to the press to make a bad case for such rotten remarks. We did not because we know that the upcoming election is not about scoring cheap political gains, but about ensuring that Nigerians have a fair deal in the next president that they will be electing.” He added
