A leader of the Labour Party, Chief Dr Patrick Osagie Eholor has described Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as a tribal leader who keeps claiming that he is a national unifier.
Eholor, also known as Ultimate Equal, and Democracy Observer-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, while addressing journalists in his country home in Edo State, stated that it is sad that Atiku could not hide his disdain for Southerners when he categorically stated that what northerners needed is a fellow northerner for president, and not Yoruba or Igbo.
He was referring to Atiku Abubakar’s speech at a function in Kaduna Saturday, where he argued that “the average Northerner don’t need an Igbo nor a Yoruba President. What Northerners need is a President who is from the North.”
But Eholor took a swipe at the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, saying that it is impossible in this modern day for anyone to approach elections with a tribalist mindset to rule Nigeria.
His words “You cannot eat your cake and have it. Put of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Atiku has voiced out what has always been in his mind and the kind of Presidency he hopes to run. We are still battling to free ourselves from ethnic politics that APC nearly ruined us with, dividing our people along ethic lines, and PDP is offering offering us another presidential candidate to run a country divided along Southern and Northern sentiments?
Also making reference to Deborah Samuel’s murder by extremists who accused her of blasphemy, Eholor stated that Atiku had an opportunity to show that he is truly a unifier when his aides condemned the deed.
“But Atiku Abubakar messed up big time by deleting the condemnation, and saying he never authorised the tweet;”
“It is the same Atiku who went to Enugu and told Igbos that he will hand over to them after four years. He also promised Wike the same position. This man speaks from both sides of his mouth. After serving as vice president, you delete your tweets so that you may get Northern votes. Why should southerners vote for you then? Why should Igbos or Yorubas vote for you?
“No. We cannot continue like that. It is time for us to vote for a detribalised Nigerian whose only interest is to move Nigeria forward in the everything. We must run away from sentiments and vote for a president that will guarantee that our children will be proud of their heritage.
“If there is any leader who will unite our children and make us all feel like we are one people, united to rise and prosper, that leader is Mr Peter Obi.