PDP Crisis: Atiku’s Last Shot at Presidency Slipping Away, Says APC

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the last shot of the presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar at the presidency of the country was gradually slipping away as a result of the crisis rocking the party.

It said Atiku brought a self-inflicted injury upon himself and therefore urged him to kiss his ill-fated presidential bid goodbye.

The Director, Media and Publicity, Mr. Bayo Onanuga in a statement issued Friday said the signs were too ominous for Atiku with the report by the Economic Intelligence Unit predicting another trashing for him in the forthcoming polls.

He noted that after violating his party’s code for power rotation between the north and south and grabbing the PDP ticket without a modicum of sensibilities about  national ethos,  Atiku was now faced with the karma of his inordinate ambition.

Onanuga said: “Once again, another bid for the presidency of our country by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar is slipping away. This is unraveling before our very eyes even before the Independent  National Electoral Commission (INEC) blows the whistle for electioneering campaign. 

“His party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in disarray. The signs are just too ominous for the Waziri with the report by the Economic Intelligence Unit predicting another trashing for him in the forthcoming polls.

“The PDP has imploded in a battle of attrition, the result of which is predictable. The ongoing fratricidal  war where a faction of the party being led by the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike is engaging Atiku in a fight to finish has undermined any momentum the PDP candidate had hoped to build. 

“With further loss of confidence in PDP by its own members who can not find any redeeming feature in the fast disappearing party, it is crystal clear that Atiku’s latest bid for Nigeria’s top job has hit the rocks.”

The ruling party said a pillar of Atiku’s campaign was the claim of being a unifier and nationalist. 

It noted that the bogus claim had now been discredited, even within his party as the disaffected members cry for justice and inclusivity.

The APC said instead of the perennially running and perennially failing  candidate to offer them some sop, he has rebuffed them, pleading that he could not grant their request for justice.

Onanuga was of the opinion that a man who cannot resolve a genuine dispute among his party members, who cannot forge an entente among them, cannot be expected to unify our country. 

He stated: “Instead of being a unifier, Atiku is now a divider-in-chief. His campaign on this score is heading for a still-birth, just as some of his programmes have been found to be nothing new, as they are already being implemented by the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“The former Vice President created the crisis for himself, by  pushing the fallacy that only a northern candidate can win the presidency for his party, despite the open record that southerners, when they network with their northern compatriots, can also win the election.”

The ruling party recalled that former leaders like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan demonstrated this in 1999, 2003 and 2011. 

It added: “As a campaign, we can only pity former Vice President Atiku for the self-inflicted injury he invited unto himself.  Chinua Achebe, the very accomplished novelist in one of his classics, Arrow of God, wrote that a man who brought ant-infested faggots into the homestead should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.”

“Atiku brought this unto himself and we dare say he can kiss his ill-fated presidential bid goodbye”.