2023: ‘Atiku is ethnic bigot’ Labour Party, APC knocks Atiku over Anti-Yoruba, Igbo comments

The Labour Party, LP, has reacted angrily to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar’s anti-Yoruba and Igbo remarks.

Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the Labour Party’s vice presidential candidate, slammed Atiku, saying his remark could jeopardise the country’s unity.

In a statement via his verified Twitter handle on Sunday, Baba-Ahmed described Atiku as an ethnic bigot who cannot even unify his party.

Atiku had on Saturday advised Northerners to vote for him in the 2023.

He said, “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the North and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country.

“This is what the Northerner needs. It doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin,” the Adamawa-born former Vice-president said in a viral video.

Meanwhile, Atiku’s comments had since triggered mixed reactions from many Nigerians and presidential candidates including the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

In a statement on Sunday, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said Atiku’s utterance is an attack on the country’s long-preserved national unity.

According to Morka, the PDP presidential candidate’s statement has shown his desperation to rule the country.

He said, “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.

“Atiku’s words ring loud of extreme and mindless desperation and such an extremely desperate man cannot and must not be entrusted with the most important job of President – a job whose core duty is that of leading, uniting and working in the best interest of all in an ethnoreligious, pluralistic society as Nigeria. Our country does not need this kind of highly inflammable rhetoric now or ever.’’

The APC spokesperson said he wondered that, Atiku who claimed to be on a mission to unify the country could engage in acts that undermined national unity.

Atiku is an ethnic bigot. A big one at that. Someone that cannot unify his party want to unify Nigeria? Liar!!!

— Dr Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed (STAN) #ObiDatti2023 (@Naija_Activist) October 16, 2022