The presidential ambition of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has gotten a major boost. This is as a group of eminent politicians from Northern Nigeria adopted Atiku as their presidential candidate for the 2023 general election.
Majority of the politicians are also angry members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the north led by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara.
The group under the aegis of Northern Leaders’ Consultative Forum made up of Christians and Muslims made the announcement after the report of its technical committee was presented to its members at a public forum in Abuja.
Prominent among those at the meeting are; Dogara, Former Governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada, and Former Minister for Water Resources, Mukhtar Shagari, among several others.
Presenting the report of the committee, former Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Simon Achuba, said Atiku was adopted after due consideration of the report of the technical criteria committee put together by the leaders.
“After a careful evaluation of all the issues highlighted above, we hereby recommend the adoption of the PDP, to all lovers of democracy in Nigeria, for the 2023 presidential election.
“However, this should be subject to getting the necessary assurance from the party to run an all-inclusive government, details of which shall be discussed with the leadership of the party in the nearest future.
“The perception that the APC Presidential candidate has some health challenges makes people very uncomfortable.
“There is the fear that it may precipitate a situation where unelected surrogates will be running the government while the president is left attending to his health.
“From the existing Structure of the Labour Party and even from the records of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as it stands for 2023 elections, even if all their candidates win in the 2023 elections, can the party still produce the President? Very unlikely indeed.”
