Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark has explained the decision of South South and Middle Belt elders to throw their support behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The former Federal Commissioner for Information said that the leaders of the South-South and Middle Belt Leaders Forum were backing Atiku because of his promise to restructure the country.
The nonagenarian made this known in Abuja on Sunday after he was named patron of an Atiku 2019 campaign group, Atikulated Leadership Movement (ALM).
The Ijaw leader said only restructuring could ensure Nigeria’s development, saying that the nation had become even more divided under the current administration.
Clark said, “I think we need someone who will restructure this country and someone who believes in restructuring. We, as Southern and Middle Belt leaders, believe that this country should be restructured.
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“During the presidential primaries, we interfaced with about 16 presidential aspirants and we came to the conclusion that whoever believes in the restructuring of Nigeria should be our candidate. That is why we are talking about Atiku today.
“He has been talking about restructuring even before now. It is not what he picked overnight. We believe that whoever talks about restructuring wants a better life for this country and that is the person we are going to vote for.
“It must be remembered that when we interacted with the 16 presidential aspirants, almost all of them believed in the restructuring of this country.
“Anybody stopping it or arguing against it does not want the betterment of Nigeria. As I said earlier, if we do not restructure Nigeria, we do not want the survival of Nigeria as a country.
“Even the APC which is the ruling government set up a committee which recommended that they should restructure this country. The recommendations are identical.’’