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General News of Monday, 17 October 2022

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Atiku comes under fire over his anti-Yoruba, Igbo comment

Atiku Abubakar Atiku Abubakar

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has been criticized for his recent comment where he advised northerners to vote for him because he is one of them.

Recall that on Saturday, October 15, Atiku advised the youth during an interactive session with the Arewa Joint Committee in Kaduna against voting for an Igbo or Yoruba presidential candidate.

Contrary to being marketed as a unifier, the former vice president said northerners need someone from the region to become Nigeria's next president.

“What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the North and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country.

“This is what the Northerner needs. It doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin,’’ Atiku said.

His comments has received backlash from a section of Nigerians, political parties, socio-cultural groups and civil organizations across the country.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the Labour Party, the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, and the apex Igbo group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo have all condemned the comment by Atiku.

Atiku’s ethnocentric statement came amid the crisis which has been threatening his campaign and his party’s chances in the 2023 presidential election.

As a result of the crisis, five arrived governors from the southern region led by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State have withdrawn their support for Atiku’s presidential campaign, Pulse.ng reports.

It is also believed that Atiku through his statement might have breached Section 97 of the Electoral Act.

According to the section, “A candidate, person or association that engages in campaigning or broadcasting based on religious, tribal or sectional reason to promote or oppose a particular political party or the election of a particular candidate, commits an offence under this Act and is liable on conviction to (a) a maximum fine of N1m or imprisonment for a term of 12 months or both and (b) in the case of a political party, to a maximum of N10m.’’

Political Parties’ Reactions

The APC in its reaction described Atiku’s utterance as an attack on the country’s long-preserved national unity.

In a statement on Sunday, October 16, 2022, the ruling party said Nigeria “does not need this kind of highly inflammable rhetoric now or ever.’’

The party said, “It is beyond the pale for a senior citizen and a former Vice-President of the Federal Republic to so brazenly instigate strife and disunity in our country in pursuit of his befuddled political self-interest.

“But it is not surprising coming from a desperate and serial failed candidate for the office of President. 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”.

On its part, Chief Spokesman of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko, asked Atiku to tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians over to show himself as a true leader.

Tanko said it is unfair for somebody who had been in the saddle of leadership of this country to play the ethnic card as a way of generating support.

“Our principal has made it clear long before now that even when people are trying to play ethnic agenda, nobody should look at him as an Igbo candidate. Our movement is a Nigerian project for the Nigerian people.

“So, in the interest of our democracy and unity of this country, which of course we represent, I think the former vice-president should apologise to Nigerians in such a way that it would show him as a true leader of a free country.” he said.

Also, the Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has joined in criticising Atiku over his ethnocentric comment.

The group described his comment as poignant and provocative.

NBA