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.
Remember that Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State yesterday criticized 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.
However, Dino made a claim in a statement titled “No Shortcut To Victory”, the spokesperson for the campaign claimed that Atiku is currently being persecuted because he decided to support democracy by not pressuring Ayu to step down.
According to the statement, Atiku would continue to back the “enthronement of strong institutions that can minimise the excesses of political goliaths”, highlighting the fact that, just like it did to Goliath in the biblical tale, “strong men get defeated, no matter the length of their domination”.
The statement reads, “the hawkers of spin in the camp of Ahmed Bola Tinubu are at it again, this time latching on to a debatable forecast to award victory to a delusional candidate who claimed that the presidency of Nigeria is a categorical entitlement.
“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?
“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’”.
