The Official Spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, has faulted the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s comment that the north needs a Northerner and not a Yoruba or Igbo person as president in 2023.
Atiku, who hails from Adamawa State, said this during an Interactive Session With Arewa Joint Committee held on Saturday in Kaduna State.
The PDP candidate was responding to a question posed by spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed when he made the controversial comment.
Baba-Ahmed asked why the north should vote for Atiku.
In his response, Atiku said, “I have traversed the whole of this country.
“I know the whole of this country. I have built bridges across this country. I think what the average northerner needs is somebody who is from the north, and who also understands the other parts of Nigeria and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country.
“This is what the northerner needs. He (northerner) doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate, or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs.
“I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
Reacting to the comment in a tweet, Keyamo described it as “the height of desperation”.
“This is the height of desperation & daredevilry on the part of Atiku!
“This is so horrendous, so horrible & so thoughtless for Atiku Abubakar to use ethnicity to campaign, saying the North does not need a YORUBA OR IBO candidate?
“My God! Atiku needs to quit the race TODAY!” Keyamo said.
The APC campaign spokesman warned Atiku’s handlers against trying to sugarcoat their principal’s comment.
“Some of his hirelings have brought out their hammers & nails to try to panel-beat this clear and obvious statement, instead of taking the route of honour to apologise to Nigerians or step down honourably from the race.
“No ‘repackaging’ or ‘panel-beating’ will repair this damage,” Keyamo said.