By Tony Adibe
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu has challenged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubkar for making false claims about the recent presidential poll.
Okechukwu, who is the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) , said he regretted that Atiku “glossed over the obvious fact that his desperation and crass opportunism led to PDP’s defeat” only to blame Mr. Peter Obi, the candidate of Labour Party.
“Imagine what could have been the result of 2023 presidential election if it was mainly between APC & PDP?” he asked, while speaking with reporters in Abuja on Sunday.
L-R: Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi, the three big wigs that contested Nigeria’s presidential election on February 25, 2023
NewsBits recalls that Atiku had while addressing a press conference in Abuja last Friday, stated that Obi’s movement to Labour Party took PDP’s votes in Southeast and South/south. But, speaking to journalists in Abuja, Sunday, Okechukwu said Atiku allowed his “entitlement mentality to becloud his sense of judgment.”
Okechukwu wondered why Atiku wanted to deceive Nigerians with the false narrative that Obi rushed out of PDP when in actual fact it was Atiku’s insistence to contest against the zoning principle that propelled Obi to find alternative platform.
Okechukwu, who is a foundation member of APC, also recalled how the former Vice President brought his opportunism to APC to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari for the APC presidential ticket in 2014 on the patriotic premise of rotation convention.
”Now, for Atiku to play the blame game by bellyaching against Mr Peter Obi, who turned out as hero of 2023 presidential election, is quite distressing. ‘How can Atiku claim that Obi was scared out by PDP Governors, when it was public knowledge that his huge war-chest and competition with Nyesom Wike that made PDP’s primary too contentious and corrupt for Mr. Peter Obi?
”It was actually Atiku’s opportunism that eclipsed the PDP and halted Obi’s hurricane.The simple truth is that His Excellency, Atiku Abubukar’s opportunism eclipsed the PDP,” he stated. Okechukwu pleaded with Atiku to retire honourably from active politics instead of playing the sore loser and sulking publicly with false narratives.
Okechukwu added: ”Here was a man who in 2014 defected to APC, on the patriotic premise that the then president, Goodluck Jonathan breached the rotation convention between north and south. Today, he violently breached the same rotation convention and the constitution of his party with lamentation outcome.”
Accusing Atiku of telling inconvenient lies about the real reason behind Peter Obi’s exit from PDP, Okechukwu, who is also the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (DG, VON), said the former Vice President contradicted his media aides. He therefore challenged Atiku to come clean on whether Obi was truly scared off by PDP Governors or as first narrated by Atiku’s team that he wanted to back Obi, but for Governor Nyemson Wike’s intransigence.
Okechukwu said Nigerians still remember how, in an attempt to defend Atiku’s brazen breach of rotation convention, Atiku’s team serially argued that he wanted to support Obi but changed his mind when he learnt that Wike was against micro-zoning to the Southeast.
”We have heard from the horse’s mouth. It is a crystal case of opportunism that drove the Waziri Adamawa into presidential race. ‘Now, this mindless opportunism has not only buried the PDP, but also halted Obi’s hurricane that could have extended to far north.
”The cardinal question is why didn’t Atiku deploy his huge war-chest to back Obi? How on earth did he expect Obi to be a perpetual running mate to him, even when he had approached Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to drop his presidential ambition to run with him? Opportunism is the answer,” the DG VON asserted.
