APC not jittery over emergence of Atiku – Okorocha

Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) won’t get involved in verbal war with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Speaking after he led five APC governors to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Wednesday, Okorocha, who is also the chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, said the ruling party cannot be jittery over the emergence of Atiku.

According to him, the antecedents of Atiku and President Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the APC, will be crucial in the 2019 presidential election, adding that the APC is more interested in issues and will not engage in a verbal war.

“I don’t know about talking tough. We can’t be jittery, history is there to speak, history is very important,” Okorocha said.

“Like I said we are not going to get involved in this verbal war with anybody, we will be talking about issues.

“If you say look you are not good, we will tell you what we can do and what we cannot do and what others cannot do. So APC is not going to engage in that kind of talk show, but we discuss on what our party can do for the people.’’

He said the governors used the opportunity of the visit to congratulate the president over his emergence as APC presidential candidate in 2019 general election.

“We are here on delegation of governors to come and congratulate Mr President for having emerged as the presidential candidate of APC in the 2019 election,” he said.

Okorocha said the essence of the meeting with the President is to assure him of their support. He also said that President Muhammadu Buhari is more than ever ready for the 2019 presidential election.

Though there are scores of presidential aspirants aiming to take over Nigeria’s seat of power, Aso Rock, Atiku Abubakar will be President Buhari’s main challenger come February 16, 2019, since he emerged as the People Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential flag bearer last weekend.

Interestingly, Atiku is not new to the presidency, as he was the deputy Commander-in-Chief to President Olusegun Obasanjo, from 1999 to 2007. Nevertheless, being the general commander (president) is a different ball game entirely. He also rose to the second-in-command position in the Nigerian Customs Service – serving as Deputy Director before retiring in 1989.