The ruling APC Chieftain and Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday called for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, retirement from active politics.
In a statement issued in Abuja, Okechukwu argued that Atiku’s desperation led to PDP’s defeat in the election.
Grow your business with us
He urged the former Vice President to retire honourably from active politics instead of playing the sore loser and sulking publicly with false narratives.
Okechukwu recalled that Atiku at a recent news conference lamented that former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi’s switch to the Labour Party took PDP’s votes in South-East and South-South.
He added that the PDP candidate allowed his entitlement mentality to becloud his sense of judgment.
Okechukwu wondered why Atiku wanted to deceive Nigerians with the false narrative that Obi rushed out of PDP when in reality his insistence to vie for the presidential ticket pushed the former governor out of the party.
The PDP candidate had on Friday rejected the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as the winner of the February 25 election and vowed to challenge the decision in court.
Okechukwu said: ”Now, for Atiku to play the blame game by bellyaching against Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party who turned out as the hero of the 2023 presidential election is quite distressing.
”How can Atiku claim that Obi was scared out by PDP Governors?
“It was public knowledge that his huge war chest and competition with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers made PDP’s primary too contentious and corrupt for Obi.
”It was actually Atiku’s opportunism that eclipsed the PDP and halted Obi’s hurricane, the simple truth is that Atiku Abubukar’s opportunism eclipsed the PDP.
”Here was a man who in 2014 defected to APC on the patriotic premise that the then president, Goodluck Jonathan, breached the rotation convention between North and South.
”Today, he violently breached the same rotation convention and the constitution of his party with lamentation outcome.”