The Peoples Democratic Party Houses of Representatives Aspirants Forum (PDP RAF), has described the public endorsement of the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as ruse and far from reality among Nigerians.
The group of PDP House of Representatives’ Aspirants Forum in a statement co-signed by its National Chairman, Hon. Danjuma Mohammed, and National Publicity Secretary, Hon.Jibrin Keana, urged the national leadership of PDP and all supporters of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to focus on credible campaign messages to Nigerians and be vigilant on the conduct of the presidential election rather than dwelling on ruse endorsement.
The group, who described the presidential candidate PDP as a democrat who contributed to the development of democracy in Nigeria, boasted that Atiku Abubakar will win the 2023 Presidential election convincingly.
The group added that the popularity of Atiku can be likened to that of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was not elected as President, but popular as serving and former Presidents due to his contributions to democracy in Nigeria.
The group recalled how Atiku in collaboration with eminent Nigerians formed the PDP, which President Olusegun Obasanjo used the platform to contest for the office of President in 1999.
The statement reads, “The recent endorsement of Presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo is far from reality on ground and ruse .
“Considering facts and figures, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of PDP will win convincingly the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria if INEC, if the security agencies in Nigeria can ensure the conduct of a peaceful, free and fair presidential election unlike that of 2019 which was characterized by irregularities which frustrated the victory of our Presidential candidate.
“The PDP leadership and all supporters of Atiku Abubakar rather than talking about the endorsement should focus on credible campaign messages to Nigerians and be vigilant on the conduct of the presidential election and the party should try to avoid the APC style of abusive response to issues instead of addressing the subject matter.
“The presidential candidate of the PDP and his running mate, Atiku Abubakar and Ifeanyi Okowa are perfect gentlemen.Their patience, humility and responsible response to national issues should be the standard of PDP supporters and avoid the APC style of insults instead of logical response to issues. We disagree and most reasonable Nigerians do with the approach, to directly or indirectly insult former president Obasanjo for his preference and refuse to address the foundation of his letter.
“Atiku Abubakar is the most popular politician in Nigeria and shares in the same image of popularity with the late sage,Chief Obafemi Awolowo.Atiku has not been elected as the President of Nigeria.Atiku ,just like Awo is as popular as many former and serving president or head of State in Nigeria. What is responsible for Atiku’ s popularity? He is a defender of democracy, a liberal democrat and an apostle of equality and justice for all Nigerians as reflected in his consistent philosophy of Re- structuring in Nigeria.
“Atiku Abubakar has good message for Nigerians and he should continue to spread his message.In all nations ,as demonstrated recently in Brazil, when countries are in trouble, citizens refer to past leaders and search from among those that did well when he/she was in office.Nigeria is undoubtedly in a big trouble and Nigerians are conscious of the performers of former leaders.Olusegun Obasanjo is not perfect, just like all humans, but he did reasonable well during his tenure as the democratically elected president of Nigeria.
“Atiku Abubakar has done well as the vice president under a performing government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and he has done well for himself as a liberal democrat, educated and employer of Labour. The APC vice presidential candidate in their characteristic manner of unguided utterances tried to ridicule the jobs creation of Atiku in his reference of bottle water seller. Atiku has industries, he is one of the leading employers of Labour in Nigeria. APC presidential candidate is referred to as a billionaire or a trillionaire, but Nigerians don’t know of his source of income other than the propaganda outfits to sell lies and deceive the people.”
