The Vice presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has hit back at the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, over his anti-Yoruba and Igbo comments on Saturday, saying that his statement was capable of jeopardizing the country’s unity.
Atiku had on Saturday advised Northerners to vote for him in the 2023 elections, saying: “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.”
Baba-Ahmed, who spoke via his verified Twitter handle on Sunday, described Atiku as an ethnic bigot who cannot even unify his party.
Said Baba-Ahmed: “Atiku is an ethnic bigot. A big one at that. Someone that cannot unify his party want to unify Nigeria? Liar!!!”
Apart from Baba-Ahmed, the All Progressives Congress (APC), National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said in a statement on Sunday that Atiku’s utterance is an attack on the country’s long-preserved national unity.
According to Morka, the PDP presidential candidate’s statement has shown his desperation to rule the country.
He said, “What does Atiku think the average Southerner needs? Why is it about what the average Northerner needs, or even what the average Southerner may need? Why is it not about what Nigeria and Nigerians need? Nigerians need bold and visionary leadership anchored on a firm commitment to transcendental national unity, over and above ethnic or sectional obsessions.
“Atiku’s words ring loud of extreme and mindless desperation and such an extremely desperate man cannot and must not be entrusted with the most important job of President – a job whose core duty is that of leading, uniting and working in the best interest of all in an ethnoreligious, pluralistic society as Nigeria. Our country does not need this kind of highly inflammable rhetoric now or ever.’’
The APC spokesperson said he wondered that, Atiku who claimed to be on a mission to unify the country could engage in acts that undermined national unity.
