Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, on Thursday, March 2, 2023, said the presidential bid of his Labour Party, counterpart, Peter Obi is premature.
Atiku, who stated this while addressing a press conference in Abuja, insisted that he remained the stepping stone to the aspiration of the Igbo to produce Nigeria’s President.
He said, “When I ran in 2019, I picked an Igbo man as a running mate simply because I felt that after any other zone again, the next zone must be South-East. In 2011, I also picked another Igbo man. And in 2023, I also picked another Igbo man. And I have always said that I will be a stepping stone to an Igbo Presidency.
“Because there is no zone alone in this country that can produce a President on his own. I have always told my Igbo compatriots that you negotiate for power, you don’t fight for it.
“So, for anybody to think that I have anything against Labour Party, I think Peter (Obi) was in a rush. Do you know why I say he was in a rush? When the campaign and our PDP governors sat down and said they must produce the next President, vice president, and Chief of Staff amongst them, Peter got scared and left. I did not get scared. I stood up against the governors and I fought them and won the primaries, so if he was there, nothing could have stopped him from becoming a running mate.”
Speaking further, Atiku said Obi “wounded” his outing in the election by taking away the votes he would have gotten from the South-East and South-South.
He also said his party was ready to have an alliance with the LP if Obi was willing.
“The question of whether I will work with Peter or not, or whether Peter wounded the PDP; yes, to some extent, he did because all the votes he carried were PDP votes in the South-South and the South-East. Agreed, he took our votes from the South-East and South-South, that, of course, will not make him President. You all know that to be President of this country, you need votes from everywhere. So, as far as I am concerned, Peter is welcome to have a dialogue with the PDP
“We are ready to have a dialogue with him. I don’t think we will have any problem if he wants to have a dialogue with PDP either to form an alliance or not.”
Bola Tinubu Declared Winner Of Nigeria’s Presidential Election As Opposition Party Vows Challenge
A Nigerian opposition party has said it will launch a legal challenge after Bola Ahmed Tinubu was on Wednesday declared the winner of Nigeria’s controversial presidential elections.
Tinubu, 70, represents the ruling All Progressives Congress party, which received close to 8.8 million votes – about 36.6% of the total, according to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Mahmood Yakubu.
He defeated vice president Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and a third leading candidate Peter Obi, who gained popularity among young people with his lesser-known Labour Party.
“We won this election as Labour Party, we are going to claim our mandate as Labour Party,” said Datti-Baba Ahmad, the party’s Vice Presidential candidate.
Obi is yet to comment on the official results.
However, Ndi Kato, Labour Party’s presidential campaign spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday: “We are defiant. The elections were rigged.”
In his acceptance speech, Tinubu struck a conciliatory tone, asking his opponents “to team up together.”
“It (Nigeria) is the only nation we have. It is one country, and we must build together. Let’s work together to put broken pieces together,” he said.
Tinubu also thanked voters and said he was “profoundly humbled.”
“This is a shining moment in the life of any man and an affirmation of our democratic existence,” he said. “I represent a promise and with your support, I know that promise will be fulfilled.”
Videos from the capital Abuja showed Tinubu’s supporters cheering and celebrating the win.
