“Dogara Swims Against The Tide” –  Obi-Datti Media Office Tackles Former Speaker, Accuses Him Of Double Standard

By Adesina Soyooye

The Obi-Datti Media Office has tackled former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, over his endorsement of the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar.

In a statement, the Media Office dismissed Dogara and his Group’s reasons for supporting Atiku as jaundiced.

Dogara and the Northern Leaders Consultative Forum, NLCF which he leads, in a communique after their meeting in Abuja, said that Obi and the Labour Party will not win the Presidential Election in 2023. And that even if they do, they will not be able to run the Government.

But in a response, the Obi-Datti Media Office said while Dogara is free to support the candidate of his choice, he is injecting “his Old Testament politics into the system to suit his selfish interest.”

Dogara’s position, it pointed out, “does not reflect the heart and mind of majority of the Nigerian populace who are already on the moving train to take back their country from the primeval political thinkers like him.”

It accused Dogara of playing  double standard and wondered how a Dogara who protested against a same-faith ticket would embrace the injustice in a party which brazenly refused  to abide by its own constitution and has no respect for fairness.

The statement said: “We in the Obi-Datti Media see Hon. Dogara’s unpopular stand as a clear measure of double standard and a grave error in seeing same-faith ticket in his party as wrong, but jump to embrace another injustice of a party that refuses to follow its own constitution and respect for political fairness and accommodation.”

Following, is the full text of the Obi-Datti Media Office statement titled:

Dogara disappoints in his  Old Testament politics.

“The attention of the Obi-Datti Media Office has been drawn to a statement credited to the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, explaining why he and his own Christian group in the North chose the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP Atiku Abubakar ahead of the high flying Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Mr  Peter Obi.

“According to the jaundiced  view of the former Speaker, he does not believe that Obi and the Labour Party will win the election, and even if they win, they will not be able to run the system.

“Hon. Dogara has a fundamental right to choose who to support and nobody can hold that against him, but to try injecting  his Old Testament politics into the system to suit his selfish interest is not going to do him any good.

“Clearly, the former Speaker knows that he is swimming against the tide by his unpopular decision which amounts to running from frying pan to fire; from one injustice  to another and claiming to be acting on behalf  his people whose anger for the two wrongs of the two main political parties are glaring.

“Hon Dogara knows as a fact that his position does not reflect the heart and mind of  majority of Nigerian populace who are already on the moving train to take back the country from the primeval  political thinkers like him.

“At his level as the Ex-leader of the national parliament, Hon. Dogara should have been privileged to read the hand writing on the wall vividly to know that where the pendulum swings today: the talk is not about political party, but about character, competence and capacity, because where the country precariously stands today requires nothing short to save it.

“Hon. Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives successfully ran a parliament literally in the opposition to the Executive and heaven did not fall, yet he feels that a pragmatic President like Peter Obi would not be able  to maneuver  or steer the ship of state.

“It is obvious that the former Speaker is still leaving in the past of the old politics that brought the country to where we are today that political party interest is taking precedence over and above national interest.

“The former Speaker knows as a fact that his choice is against the tide, as the country stands on two prongs today ahead of 2023; justice and equity on one hand and capacity and competence on the other and not on primordial interest of political party lines.

“We in the Obi-Datti Media see Hon Dogara’s unpopular stand as a   clear measure of double standard and a grave error in seeing same faith ticket in his party as wrong but jump to embrace another injustice of a party that refuses to follow its own constitution and respect for political fairness and accommodation.

“Obi-Datti Media Office, therefore, sympathizes with Hon. Dogara for failing woefully to grab the ample opportunity that every politician looks forward to, standing for their people at a critical time of their abandonment. History will certainly place him as a leader who turned his back on his people when they rose against injustice and oppression.”

The Southern and Middle Belt Forum, SaMBA, in its reaction to the choice of Dogara’s Group, NLCF, of Atiku, dismissed the Group as “toothless”, which endorsement of  the PDP Presidential Candidate has no impact.