2023: Atiku Should Retire, Allow Younger Blood From South To Contest – Edo PDP Chieftain

By Ayodele Oni

A suspended chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) in Edo state, Prince Kassim Afegbua, has described as immoral,  former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s continued quest  for the Presidential seat.

In a statement on Sunday in Benin city, Afegbua, a former Commissioner in the State, and one of PDP’s hands for the Atiku Presidential campaign in 2019 when Atiku was the PDP flag bearer, pointed out that “Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar cannot assume the role of a perpetual candidate, or professional aspirant year in, year out, of the party as though the party was established for him alone.

“It defeats all sense of logic for such an old man to attempt another round of political contestation at a time the general feeling and mood in the country supports a younger Nigerian from the Southern extraction of the country.

“For me, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should quit his quest for presidency and support a southern Nigerian candidate in the spirit of fairness, equity and justice, that will assuage the feelings of stakeholders from the Southern part of Nigeria.

“It will be against the run of play and natural justice for any aspirant of Northern extraction to show interest in the 2023 presidential election within the Peoples’ Democratic Party threshold.

“It will offend national sentiments, emotions and logic for anyone from the North to show such interest given our diversities and hetereogenous political configurations.

“Given PDP’s doctrine of political power balancing and fairness, it will be against its own unwritten rule to cede the ticket to any Northern aspirant least of all Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”

His  statement titled ‘2023: Atiku and the age of Methuselah politics, Afegbua accused Atiku of abandoning the party after the 2019 presidential election, and sought refuge in Dubai, thus exposing  members to intimidations, harassment and threats posed by the desperate APC’s power oligarchs.

“It was a case of a General abandoning his troops in the battle field. Rather than draw strength from his presence, his absence exposed us to all manner of challenges.

“He was in Dubai and left us to our fate. When it mattered most for us to reach out to our candidate for motivation and necessary encouragement, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar vanished to thin air.

“Knowing full well that political activities were to take off, he suddenly resurfaced and became a frontliner in his quest to fly the party’s flag once again.

“That, to me, amounts to gross political selfishness and greed, which must not be allowed to flourish in our contemporary engagements.

“Even those who are promoters-in-chief of Alhaji Atiku’s aspiration know in their heart of hearts that it is a project that is dead on arrival.

“Having concluded the convention of the PDP, with a new leadership that looks promising, the Party will have to rise above board to produce a presidential candidate from the Southern part of the country to complete the narrative.

“With the abysmal performance of President Muhammadu Buhari on account of age, incompetence and lack of capacity and political will to take deliberate and sustained action to bail out the country from all manner of challenges, it will be immoral for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to continue to express interest in seeking election in the 2023 presidential election having attained the retirement age.”