Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party‘s (PDP) presidential nominee, has pledged to overcome those who are conspiring against him in the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in the next election.
Speaking through Dino Melaye of the PDP Presidential Campaign Management Committee, Atiku also charged Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate, with orchestrating the crisis that is roiling the PDP.
Recall that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State yesterday criticised Atiku and Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP National Chairman, and threatened to battle till his demands were met.
Wike, who lost to Atiku in the primary poll on May 29, had made Ayu’s resignation the the requirement for working toward Atiku’s win in the general election of 2023.
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However, the campaign spokesperson claimed in a statement by Dino titled “No Shortcut To Victory” that Atiku is today being persecuted because he decided to be a democrat by refusing to force Ayu to resign.
Atiku continued to support the “enthronement of strong institutions that can limit the excesses of political goliaths,” the statement said, emphasising that “powerful men become defeated, no matter the duration of their control,” as it was with Goliath in the biblical account.
“The hawkers of spin in the Ahmed Bola Tinubu camp are at it again, latching on to a questionable forecast to award victory to a deluded candidate who declared that the president of Nigeria is a categorical entitlement,” the statement continues.
“The Palace jesters are gloating over the orchestrated amplification of the agitation by some members of our Party to sing a dirge, forgetting that advocacy is not only normal in a democracy, their very idol went riotous and danced naked in desperation when he sensed that the ticket of his discredited and failed political party was eluding him.
“Through a sheer arrogance, impudence and indiscretion, Bayo Onanuga the mouth piece of the hallucinators and hawkers of illusion took the place of INEC by declaring a loss of election for the most promising flagbearer in the 2023 Presidential election, Atiku Abubakar. May the self-acclaimed rivals of God be reminded that power belongs to God?
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“In any case, the polemics being celebrated was an indictment against Ahmed Bola Tinubu, who regardless of the status and efforts of APC leaders like Rotimi Amaechi was hawking the Senatorial ticket in an insensitive and indecorous manner. In the end his power excursion lu’le. This is what Atiku will not do. It is, in fact, for the defence of democracy and respect for due process that Atiku is now being persecuted.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku as a long standing democrat will not sacrifice those elected by the Party for his own ambition, just to please autocratic democrats. If by chance he loses the support of some party members on account of adhering to the rules, he would be satisfied that he acted right.
“Waiting to benefit from the internal synthesis that may play out in the PDP is a wait in futility. The tears of opposition are only flowing from the demonstrable capacity of Atiku for political sagacity.
“This contest will be a long hull. No shortcut, no award and no conferment of entitlement. Kaka ‘eyin ko lokan’”.
