The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, of engaging in ethnic and tribal politics. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has refuted these charges.
The APC’s purposeful distortion, doctoring, and misinterpretation of Atiku’s statement in Kaduna in an effort to damage his reputation, according to the PDP, is disgraceful and reckless.
Atiku had stated that Nigeria needs a pan-Nigerian leader, not a Yoruba or Igbo candidate, during a meeting in Kaduna over the weekend.
Nigerians responded to Atiku’s statement by labeling the former vice president a sectional leader.
In order to do this, the APC had characterized Atiku’s remark as a significant assault on the nation’s national unity.
In response to the APC’s remark, Debo Ologunagba, a spokesman for the PDP, stressed that Atiku is a leader for all of Nigeria.
According to a statement by Ologunagba, the APC’s response reveals that the party is uneasy about Atiku’s popularity across the nation.
“For clarification and the avoidance of doubt, Atiku Abubakar is a Pan-Nigerian leader; a symbol of national unity, cohesiveness, and tolerance who is at home and well-liked throughout the nation,” the statement adds.
He has never and will never portray any region of our nation as having been unfairly exaggerated by the APC.
To clear the air, the PDP presidential candidate emphasized that he had developed bridges throughout the nation in response to the question posed to him at the occasion and that Nigerians—including the typical northerner—needed a Pan-Nigerian leader rather than an ethnic champion.
“We know that the APC is uneasy with Atiku Abubakar’s enormous popularity across the country because of his concentration on topics that would better Nigerians’ lives, and as a result the APC is anxious to tarnish his Pan-Nigerian status,” said one source.
Nigeria is more polarized under the APC-led government, the PDP bemoaned.
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