VON DG Osita Okechukwu.
PDP Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.
LP Presidential Candidate Peter Obi.
Condemning the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for allegedly making false claims about the February 25, 2023, Presidential Election, the Director-General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, has said that Atiku’s alleged desperation and crass opportunism led to PDP’s defeat at the polls.
In a statement on Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Okechukwu declared that the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, was not to be blamed for the PDP’s woes at the polls, as allegedly claimed by Atiku.
The VON boss, who is a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), pleaded with Atiku to retire honourably from active politics, rather than allegedly playing the sore loser and sulking with false narratives publicly.
Okechukwu wondered what the election results would have been if it was mainly between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP.
Recalling that Atiku at a recent news conference reportedly stated that Obi’s movement to the LP took PDP’s votes in the South-East and the South-South, Okechukwu that Atiku allegedly allowed his entitlement mentality to becloud his sense of judgment.
The VON Director-General wondered why Atiku allegedly wanted to deceive Nigerians with the false narrative that Obi rushed out of PDP, when, in actual fact, it was his insistence to contest against the zoning principle that propelled Obi to find an alternative platform.
Okechukwu further recalled how the former Vice-President allegedly brought his opportunism to APC to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari for the party’s presidential ticket in 2014 on the patriotic premise of rotation convention.
“Now, for Atiku to play the blame game by bellyaching against Mr. Peter Obi of Labour Party, who turned out as hero of 2023 Presidential Election, is quite distressing.
“How can Atiku claim that Obi was scared out by PDP Governors when it was public knowledge that his huge war-chest and competition with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers that made PDP’s primary too contentious and corrupt for Obi?
“It was actually Atiku’s opportunism that eclipsed the PDP and halted Obi’s hurricane, the simple truth is that Atiku Abubukar’s opportunism eclipsed the PDP,” Okechukwu said.
He added: “Here was a man who in 2014 defected to APC, on the patriotic premise that the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, breached the rotation convention between North and South.
“Today, he violently breached the same rotation convention and the constitution of his party with lamentation outcome.”
Atiku, according to Okechukwu, has not said the real reason behind Obi’s exit from the PDP, noting that he has contradicted his media aides.
The VON boss, therefore, challenged Atiku to come clean on whether Obi was truly scared off by PDP Governors or, as first narrated by his team, that he wanted to back Obi, but for Governor Nyesom Wike’s alleged intransigence.
Okechukwu recalled how, in an attempt to defend his breach of rotation convention, Atiku’s team allegedly serially argued that he wanted to support Obi, but changed his mind when he learnt that Wike was against micro-zoning the presidency to the South-East.
“We have heard from the horse’s mouth, it is a crystal case of opportunism that drove the Waziri Adamawa into presidential race,” the VON Director-General said.
According to him, with the outcome of the February 25 Presidential Election, Atiku had not only allegedly buried the PDP, but also halted Obi’s hurricane that could have extended to the far North.
Okechukwu said that the cardinal question was: Why Atiku did not deploy his huge war-chest to back Obi ahead of the Presidential Election?
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