The All Progressives Congress (APC) has blasted the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Atiku Abubakar, over his comment that Northerners don’t need a president of Yoruba or Igbo extraction.
The spokesperson for the APC, Felix Morka, said Atiku seeks to divide Nigeria as eh divided the PDP.
Morka stated this while reacting to Atiku’s comment that Northerners should vote for him rather than a Yoruba or Igbo candidate during an Interactive Session With Arewa Joint Committee held in Kaduna State.
“Against the dictates of his party’s constitution on the principle of power rotation between and North and South of Nigeria, Atiku wrestled Presidential Candidacy and left his party in fractious disability.
“In direct contrast to Atiku’s schismatic tendency, our Northern Progressive APC Governors stood valiantly in support of the emergence of a Southern Presidential Candidate of our Party in demonstration of patriotic commitment to our national unity, equity and fairness. That is what Nigeria needs, now and ever,” he said.
Morka described Atiku’s statement is a decisive attack on national unity.
“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” he stated.