Atiku kicks against zoning, endorses indirect primary

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has faulted the call on the Peoples Democratic Party to zone its presidential ticket to a particular region of the country, adding that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not recognize it.

Atiku, who spoke at a meeting with members of a group, Let’s Fix Nigeria with Atiku, on a solidarity visit at his residence in Abuja, said any Nigerian endowed with the right attributes could lead the country, as against the call for a younger president, and urged Nigerians to look for such a person and give him leadership.

Similarly, the leader of the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who was present at the meeting said, there was no doubt whatsoever that Atiku had the capacity, ability, the will to unite the country as he had been tested and proven.

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It would recalled that the Southern and Middle Belt Forum, comprising the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; the pan-Igbo socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo; and the Middle Belt Forum, had called all political parties to zone their presidential ticket to the South as the regions would not vote for a northern presidential candidate in 2023.

Waziri Adamawa, who recalled how he bought the idea of zoning in the PDP during a discussion with a former vice president, the late Dr. Alex Ekwueme, assured that he would adopt measures that would unify and stabilise Nigeria if elected.

“But then, as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, we felt that there should be a sense of belonging. We went and invented this zoning.

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“Leadership is endowed by God. You can have a young man come and do better than an old man. So, it is an endowed attribute from God, therefore, we should try to look for such a person who has been endowed by God, who has those attributes and then give him leadership.

The former vice president lamented that Nigeria was more divided now than it was during the Civil War, while insecurity and poverty had become prevalent in the country.

“As far as the unity of this country is concerned, we are more divided. Even when we fought the Civil War, we were never as divided as this. We never have a breakdown of law and order like this because when we fought the Civil War, it was confined to a particular location, in every other place, there was peace.

“We never had this kind of poverty where even the farmer cannot go to farm the food to eat, not to talk of commercial farming. So, I have never seen this country so bad, and it is going to be a daunting task for anybody to come and turn things around.”