The greatest example of ethnocentric opportunism ever expressed by a former vice president, according to the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), was Atiku’s statement.
According to a statement from the PCC Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, Atiku’s remarks showed how low a man honored with the second-highest post under the Nigerian Constitution was willing to go in pursuit of a never-ending wild goose chase for the top job.
The council noted that Atiku’s claim supports the claim that he has gorged on such cheap, primitive, and basic feelings since 1989 in order to use the North’s elite and populace as a stepping stone to power without any tangible results to show for it.
Onanuga noted “Atiku who got 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.
“But we are not surprised by his desperate position. Atiku has resorted to whipping up ethnic sentiments, knowing that his chances of being elected have become a mirage.
“He has himself, not anybody else, to blame for his expected electoral misfortune. First, he broke the fundamental rules of power rotation in his party and the country.
“As if this cardinal sin was not enough, the PDP candidate has remained defiant in the face of pressure by preserving the two topmost posts in his party for people from his region.
“The Nigerian public now knows better that a man who has been campaigning as a so-called unifier of our disparate groups is a tribal jingoist, who has now totally eviscerated all pretensions of being a detribalised Nigerian.
“He is demonstrably the antithesis of a pan-Nigerian politician. Nigerians of goodwill, who, daily, seek a united and prosperous nation, should reject Atiku and his party at the polls next February.
“Atiku only pays lip service to national unity, despite that it features as one of the five cardinal points of his so-called “Covenant with Nigerians”. The facade is over. He is now fully naked before the Nigerian people.’
The APC PCC’s Director of New Media, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, also mocked the PDP candidate on his Facebook page, claiming that the nation does not require an ethnic bigot and tribal advocates to serve as president in 2023.
The former Aviation Minister wrote on his verified Facebook page: “Such tomfoolery is rarely seen even from the worst among us. Atiku’s words are not only unacceptable, but also irresponsible and despicable.
“To say that the North will be better off if a Northern is in power for yet another eight years and will be worse off if an Igbo or Yoruba is in power is an insidious, provocative, dangerous, self-serving and specious lie.
“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 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,”
