Osita Okechukwu, a senior member of the All Progressives Congress, has urged African Democratic Congress presidential candidate and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to step down from the 2027 presidential contest and embrace the role of a statesman.
Okechukwu argued that his choice to run in the 2023 presidential election against the Peoples Democratic Party’s zoning plan undermined both the opposition and Nigeria’s democracy.
Okechukwu made the request during Prime Time on Arise Television on Monday.
According to him, Atiku’s nomination as the PDP presidential candidate in 2022, despite calls for the party to zone its ticket to the South, sparked a crisis that is still affecting the party.
Okechukwu expressed admiration for the former vice president and advised him to prioritise national interest before personal ambition.
“I have great respect for His Excellency Atiku Abubakar. He was very close to some of my late senior colleagues, Dubem Onyia and Chuba Okadigbo. I have great respect for him.
“My appeal to him is to consider the interest of the Nigerian state and our fledgeling democracy. About three years ago, he did the same thing by breaching the rotation convention, and the collateral damage is heavy.
“If he had said that in 2014 I walked away from the PDP, telling them that it was the turn of the North; joined the APC; and contested for the presidency… I think it was when we were less than one year old when they joined us in protest, and he contested for president with us, came third, and returned to the PDP. And in the 2018 presidential primaries of the PDP, no southern aspirant participated.”
The APC stalwart argued that Atiku’s decision to contest the PDP presidential primary in 2022, rather than allowing the ticket to shift to the South, had significant political consequences.
The fallout destabilised the PDP, weakened its position as Nigeria’s main opposition party, and had a long-term impact on the country’s political landscape.
He also criticised Atiku’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu over alleged moves to create a one-party state.
“So what am I saying? I’m saying that when he breached it in 2022, the consequences in the PDP…
“Most of the time, I see him talking about a one-party state, accusing President Bola Tinubu of generating a one-party state. He forgot, or maybe deliberately, glossed over and swept under the carpet the fact that if he had allowed a Southerner to contest against President Tinubu, even if the PDP had lost, the party could have remained strong,” Okechukwu said.
In 2022, Atiku was the PDP’s presidential candidate. However, many party members argued that the ticket should have been zoned to the South after Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office.
This led to a rebellion among the G5 governors, deepening divisions within the opposition party, and ultimately resulting in the PDP’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election.
