The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has sensationally declared that Nigeria does not need a Yoruba or Igbo to be President next year, a statement Tinubu’s spokesman Festus Keyamo described as ‘horrendous”.
The former vice president reportedly made the statement during an interactive session with members of the Arewa Joint Committee held on Saturday in Kaduna State.
Atiku was quoted as saying: “I have traversed the whole of this country; I know the whole of the country; I have built bridges across the country.
“What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the North and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country. This is what the northerner needs; it doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a Pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
In his reaction, spokesman of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign, Festus Keyamo (SAN), described Atiku’s statement as the height of desperation.
In a tweet on his official Twitter handle, Keyamo, who asked Atiku to quit the presidential race, wrote “This is the height of desperation & dare devilry on the part of Atiku!
“This is so horrendous, so horrible and so thoughtless for Atiku Abubakar to use ethnicity to campaign, saying the North does not need a YORUBA OR IGBO candidate. My God! Atiku needs to quit the race TODAY!”
