Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia
The Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Mr. Raymond Dokpesi, yesterday urged the South East to delay their quest for presidency in 2023 and support Atiku Abubakar to pave way for the zone in 2027.
He made the appeal in Umuahia when he led members of the Atiku Abubakar’s team and met with stakeholders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to solicit the support of the Abia caucus of PDP.
Dokpesi said that his appeal for Ndigbo to shelve their collective presidential aspiration for now was not prejudicial to the right of the Southeastener to emerge as the president of Nigeria in the spirit of fairness, equity and justice.
He said: “I have my greatest respect for the South-east and I believe there are many qualified, capable people in the South-east that can rule Nigeria,” he said, adding that the “time has come to face the reality.”
The broadcast media mogul explained that the reality now is that Nigeria has been so destroyed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of President Muhammadu Buhari that it would jeopardise “the winnability” of an Igbo presidential candidate without healing the country first.
According to him, the first step to realising the presidential ambition of Ndigbo is “to put forward a winning strategy of using Atiku to wrest power from APC, unite the divided nation and then pave the way for a successor from the South-east.”
He assured that Atiku will hand over power to an Igbo come 2027 after completing a single tenure of four years to make up for the four years the North lost in the PDP power rotation arrangement following the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua in May 2010.
To drive home his assurance of Igbo presidency in 2027, the founder of the DAR Commnications vowed that “I’ll go naked and even lose my life” if Atiku reneged on the agreement to transfer power to the South zone after completing one tenure in office.
Dokpesi stated that “the greatest problem we have in Nigeria today is the unification of this country” adding that “Atiku Abubakar will solve the problem of Nigeria” and reset the country for unity and progress.
He painted a scary picture of the devastation that the Buhari’s administration has wrought on the country, saying that the PDP owed the nation a duty to stop the “enemy forces (APC)” that are destroying the country and running everything aground.
Dokpesi, who is a former chairmanship aspirant of the PDP, said that the party is faced with the enormous task of not only kicking out the “impostors” out of power but also healing a deeply wounded nation and a wreaked economy.
“Nigeria is bleeding. Nigeria is at the brink of collapse. The man (Buhari) is failure. He is incompetent and not a visionary leader. That is why this county is a failure; that is why this county is more divided than it has ever been,” he lamented.
In response the Abia PDP stakeholders, including former party chairmen, Ndidi Okereke, Rev, Benson Ezem, former Abia deputy speaker, Chief Emeka Stanley and former state woman leader, Ms. Nnenna Obewu-Onwuka.
The State PDP Chairman, Hon. Asiforo Okere, urged the Atiku technical team “to continue canvassing and talking to the people” on the issue of Atiku presidency, describing him as a very important asset of PDP.
‘I believe that at the end of the day the will of God will be done and PDP will take over Nigeria,” he said.
