Former Commissioner for Information in Edo State and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Kassim Afegbua, has described as a big lie the claim by former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that he had always got the presidential ticket of the party, insisting that since the formation of the PDP, he has only represented the party once, in the 2019 presidential election.
Afegbua stated this in a statement made available to the Daily Sun, yesterday, where he reminded the former vice president that in 2007, 2011 and 2015 respectively, he contested on the platform of other political parties and not the PDP.
“In 2007, when he attempted to get the party’s ticket, he was shown the exit door. In 2011, he used another party platform to pursue his ambition. In 2015, yet again, he tried to use the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and he was beaten roundly at the Lagos convention. That was the primary election that saw the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as the candidate of the APC. It was only in 2019 that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar emerged as the candidate of the PDP at the PortHarcourt convention when it was decided by the Southern aspirants to allow all-Northern aspirants to contest the primary. So, the claim that, “I will always get the ticket of the PDP”, flies in the face of logic, fact and reality.”
Afegbua berated Atiku for concentrating on how to satisfy his selfish aspiration of picking the party’s presidential ticket at a time when he should be working towards strengthening the structures of the party for more electoral victories.
He said: “The party did a bye-election in Cross River State; we didn’t see Alhaji Atiku Abubakar during the campaigns. There was a bye-election in Akure, Ondo State, yet, we did not see him there. There was a bye-election in Imo State; we didn’t see him at the campaigns. All that matters to him is the presidential ticket of the party.
He insisted that it is the turn of southern Nigeria to produce the next presidential candidate of the PDP in 2023 and advised Atiku to start thinking of how to support younger Nigerians from the South to pursue the presidential aspiration of the party, as anything contrary to that would amount to usurping the opportunity, position and chance of the Southern axis to produce the party’s candidate.
“That will be a direct assault on our collective sensibilities. Alhaji Atiku has always supported zoning and should not play the ostrich this time because of his selfish aspiration. Power cannot reside in the Northern axis for 16 unbroken years. That will be against the normative order of justice, fairness and equity. The opposition PDP must copy from the ruling APC in ceding its ticket to the South as a form of gentleman agreement that will promote peace, unity, cohesion and collective responsibility within the party,” he added.
He advised the former vice president to emulate the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been standing by his Ukrainian nationals, to the extent of carrying AK-47 to the battle front to secure his country from Russian invasion. “We want vibrant young leaders like President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who will lead from the front and not those who will run away when they hear the sound of bayonets.”
