Former Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in the 2023 Bayelsa off-cycle election, Engr. Udengs Eradiri has advised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to support the South in completing its turn in the presidency, saying doing so would reduce rising political tension and promote national unity.
He also urged the former vice president to give up his dream of becoming Nigeria’s president, noting that backing a southern candidate would help calm frayed nerves and foster peace across the country.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Eradiri said Atiku’s repeated attempts to run for the presidency have negatively affected the Niger Delta’s development and ruined the image of some respected leaders from the region who supported him.
He argued that Atiku’s insensitive and desperate ambition to become President threatened the peace of the country and explained that his repeated pursuit of the presidency had negatively affected the Niger Delta.
He recalled that the late Bayelsa governor, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, faced humiliation, hardship, and eventually died due to his close ties with Atiku, adding that former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, ended up in jail partly because of his political alliance with the former vice president.
Eradiri said Atiku was among those who tele-guided the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, and gave him deceptive assurances that worsened his ordeal.
He observed that Atiku’s ambition destroyed the PDP and attempted to destabilise the country by ignoring the zoning arrangement of the presidency between the north and the south.
He said Atiku demonstrated the highest level of desperation, unreasonableness and lack of patriotism in 2023 when he cornered the PDP presidential ticket to retain power in the North despite former President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office.
He said: “I want to call on Alhaji Abubakar to demonstrate statesmanship by jettisoning his ambition to be President of Nigeria. This call is not political. It is borne out of unbiased assessment of the damage his ambition has caused the people of the Niger Delta.
“This period should have been the turn of the South after the North had done two terms, but you can see that Atiku is still insisting on becoming the President, and today, the opposition has been alienated because of Atiku.
“The PDP is in tatters today because of Atiku. Therefore, it is clear that Atiku’s ambition is bringing untold hardship especially for us in the Niger Delta. It is creating the problem that is destabilising the Nigerian polity.
“Every society needs a virile opposition for the ruling party to sit up. But Atiku’s ambition has dealt a deadly blow to PDP, which many people relied upon to provide this opposition.”
