APC Chieftain Urges Atiku to Quit 2027 Race and Embrace Statesmanship

(Osita Okechukwu. photo by Punch News)

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has urged the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to step down from the 2027 presidential race and embrace the role of a statesman.

Okechukwu argued that Atiku’s decision to contest the 2023 presidential election against the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) zoning arrangement had weakened both the opposition and Nigeria’s democracy.

He made the appeal while speaking during a television programme on Monday.

According to him, Atiku’s emergence as the PDP’s presidential candidate in 2022, despite calls for the party to zone its ticket to the South, triggered a crisis that continues to affect the party to date.

Expressing admiration for the former vice president, Okechukwu urged him to place national interest above personal ambition.

He said he held Atiku in high regard, noting that the former VP had been close to some of his late senior colleagues, Dubem Onyia and Chuba Okadigbo.

He appealed to Atiku to consider the interest of the Nigerian state and its fledgling democracy, recalling that about three years ago, Atiku had similarly breached the rotation convention, resulting in heavy collateral damage.

He explained that although the Nigerian state and its democracy survived, the destabilisation caused within the PDP carried consequences that could not be quantified, adding that the damage eventually extended to Atiku’s own political backyard.

Okechukwu noted that had Atiku acted like a statesman in 2022, it would not have been out of character, recalling that in 2014, Atiku had walked away from the PDP after insisting it was the North’s turn, joined the APC, and contested for the presidency under the party, though he came third and later returned to the PDP. He added that, notably, no Southern aspirant participated in the PDP’s 2018 presidential primaries.

The APC chieftain maintained that Atiku’s decision to contest the PDP’s 2022 presidential primary rather than allow the ticket to shift to the South had far-reaching political consequences, insisting that the resulting fallout destabilised the PDP, weakened its standing as Nigeria’s main opposition party, and left a lasting impact on the country’s political landscape.

He also faulted Atiku’s criticism of President Bola Tinubu over alleged moves to create a one-party state, arguing that the PDP’s internal decisions played a major role in its current predicament.

He said Atiku often accuses President Tinubu of fostering a one-party state, but glossed over the fact that had he allowed a Southerner to contest against Tinubu, the PDP could have remained strong even if it lost the election.

It will be recalled that Atiku’s emergence as the PDP’s presidential candidate in 2022 sparked controversy, as many party members had insisted the ticket should have been zoned to the South following President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office.

The dispute led to the rebellion by the G5 governors, deepened divisions within the opposition party, and was widely seen as a contributing factor to the PDP’s defeat in the 2023 presidential election.