Former Vice President Abubakar Atiku has been encouraged by the Peter Obi Support Network to withdraw his presidential bid in 2023 in favor of another candidate, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi.
Both Atiku and Obi are running for president of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The organization stated it was in the spirit of equality, justice, and fairness in a message to Atiku dated April 19, 2022 and made available to our correspondent.
Prince Emeka Kalu, Alhaji Kabir Garba, Adigun Makanjuola, Mr Marcel Ngogbehei, and Comrade Sani Saeed Altukry, members of the group’s Media and Communications Committee, signed the statement.
The group claimed that stepping down and supporting Obi would not only salvage the PDP and Nigeria, but would also ensure that the Atiku/Obi ticket, which Nigerians had missed out on in 2019, was returned to power in 2023 and that their high manifesto was carried out for the benefit of all.
According to the organization, the country is currently under a state of emergency, and it was during these times that history and posterity documented the country’s greatest heroes and heroines.
According to the report, the reasonable implication is that in 2023, after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, the presidency should rotate to the South.
It urged Nigerians not to make the same mistakes they did in 2015, and that no one should wish the country another eight years of poor government.
According to the group, if the PDP conceded its ticket to the South-East, it would send a message to the APC that would drown it out.
The statement read in part, “We write on behalf of millions of our members across Nigeria to call on you, our Party Leader, H.E Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (GCON), to seize the moment and show again the leadership you ably demonstrated in 2019 when you rose above primordial considerations to choose Mr. Peter Obi as the PDP Vice-Presidential Candidate; an action that got the entire country ‘Atikulated & Obligated.’
“The Atiku/Obi 2019 ticket has gone down in history as Nigeria’s most inspiring presidential ticket of all time, which in our view was an unfairly denied victory.
“Regardless of the foregoing, our relationship with you will last forever; and for the record, all of us in POSN were Atikulated & Obligated in 2019. Hence, for us, you are part and indeed the head of our family.
“As you are aware, Nigeria had President Olusegun Obasanjo (Southwest, 1999–2007) and President Goodluck Jonathan (South-south, 2010–2015), leaving the South-East outstanding.
“The All Progressives Congress has zoned its 2023 presidential ticket to the South; therefore, the PDP has no reason not to follow suit as a matter of law. To do otherwise will mean working against equity and fairness and inviting avoidable litigation and possible truncation of the PDP’s participation in the 2023 presidential election, which will give the APC a ‘walk-over-victory.’
“Stepping down and supporting Peter Obi will not only save the PDP and Nigeria, but also ensure that the Atiku/Obi ticket of 2019, which Nigerians so dearly missed, is returned to power in 2023 and ensure that their lofty manifesto is implemented for the benefit of all.”
