Atiku (left) and Tinubu
By Tony Adibe
The Director-General, Voice of Nigeria (VON) and founding member of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has described former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s condemnation of President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s transition as a demonstration of “crocodile tears, medicine after death and political hypocrisy.”
NewsBits learnt that Atiku, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the recent election had criticised the exclusion of any Igbo person from the membership list of Tinubu’s transition committee. However, commenting on the observation from Abuja, Okechukwu said Atiku’s attempt to play the advocate for Igbo interest amounted to shedding of “Crocodile tears”.
He recalled how Atiku, during the recent presidential election, brazenly and blatantly breached the zoning arrangement in PDP and the zoning convention of president from north to south and vice versa for his selfishness. Arguing that Atiku’s attempts to stand in for Ndigbo is a clear example of medicine after death or a chase after the wind, Okechukwu noted that Atiku’s betrayal of Ndigbo during the PDP Presidential primary election was the “deepest and unkindest cut.”
Okechukwu said: “I make bold to state that the former Vice President had long lost the moral high ground to parade himself or even pontificate as friend of Ndigbo. It’s sheer hypocrisy and cannot wipe out the injury inflicted on Igbo members of PDP by our dear brother-in-law.
“One remembers with nostalgia the deep attachment of Ndigbo to PDP, even when His Excellency, Dr Alex Ekwueme, the party’s pioneer chairman was shoved aside at the Jos convention in 1999. “They repeated same, which was even more painful, when President Buhari nominated Rt.Hon. Chuba Okadigbo as his running mate in 2003 presidential election and Rt.Hon. Edwin Ume-Ezeoke as his running mate in 2007 presidential election.
“Even though I subscribe to inclusive politics, His Excellency, Atiku Abubukar had all it takes to have supported Peter Obi for the 2023 PDP’s presidential ticket during the party’s primary election. But, here was a man who pulled out from PDP in 2014, defected to APC in protest against former President Goodluck Jonathan’s breach of South to North rotation convention of presidency, claiming that Governor Nyesom Wike’s ambition compelled him to recontest the PDP presidential primary. That is a no brainer.”
On why he is peeved by Atiku’s objective observation on the transition committee list, Okechukwu, who is also the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), said nobody should fight any proxy war on behalf of Ndigbo. He emphasised that “Ndigbo are like the fabled Beetle, and nobody can kill the Beetle.”
Okechukwu further stated: “We are the fabled Beetle, we are Zikists and patriots per excellence more than any other tribe. Atiku was in his statement shedding mere Crocodile tears. I stand to be contradicted; we invest wherever we live, and we reside in all the nooks and crannies of our dear country. Our stance remains, let the Eagle perch as well as the Dove.
“And, truly our concern is that no geopolitical zone is either developing or modernising at the required rate as our global peers are going.”
“Methinks that Atiku who publicly proclaimed naka sai naka and Namu! Namu! (Your own is your own to his northern brothers) is romancing Ndigbo for a possible run-off, in the assumption eventuality of cancellation of the poll.
“As a believer in politics of inclusion as the ligament bonding our dear nation, one will advise Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu not resort to Tiwa! Tiwa! (My own is my own). Tinubu had recently forwarded an additional 13-man to earlier 2 lists to the outgoing Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha with exclusion of the Southeast,” he explained.
