2023 Presidency: Atiku Remains Untainted Brand, Group Declares, Berates Ex-VP’s Aide Afegbua
- The Face of Waziri-Nigeria, an NGO, has said that the former vice president Atiku Abubakar has what it takes to lead the country in 2023
- This made disclosed in Lagos on Wednesday, February 23, by the director-general of the group, Ade Bukky
- According to him, the recent attacks on Atiku by his former aide, Kassim Afegbua, was uncalled for and needless
Lagos - A non-governmental organisation, Face Of Waziri-Nigeria (FOW), has flayed what it described as unfounded and malicious contents being developed and bandied around to disparage the person of Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri Adamawa, ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Legit.ng reports that the group's director-general, Ade Bukky, who spoke with newsmen in his Lagos office on Wednesday, February 23, noted that the campaign of calumny embarked upon by a former commissioner of information in Edo state, Kassim Afegbua, is needless going by the basis of his actions.
Source: Facebook
Bukky said thatAfegbua is only enraged by the fact that he was refused what he craved so much, to be part of the media team for Atiku Technical Committee enlisted to tour round the country, consult and dialogue with people before his eventual declaration to jostle for the presidency.
He stated:
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“Our NGO would have felt no need to dignify a funny character like Kassim Afegbua, with our response for all the fallacious comments he has been bandying around.
“We are much aware of all his atrocious mien, in fact as a PDP member he worked against us in Edo state prior to Obaseki’s victory at the poll."
Afegbua lacks a moral right to criticise Atiku
The NGO also faulted Afegbua’s take on Atiku’s administrative acumen, citing the fact that the Waziri Adamawa's deep sense of industry cut across all sectors, as he remains the greatest employer of labour in Adamawa, with over 100,000 staffers on his payroll.
Bukky further noted:
“At the moment we really cannot place where Afegbua belongs, as he peddles falsehood about, his pocket well lined with millions of naira by his paymasters; the political businessman in Lagos and another one from River state who commissioned him for this dirty mission.
“He is busy propagating all forms of falsehoods, targeted at demarketing Atiku due to the fact that he could not get what he wanted in the said technical committee.
“All kinds of disparaging comments about Atiku's age and that he has never been a Governor before and so lacks the ability to be president. At this critical moment, for usage is just a number, what we need is the experience, competence, smartness and sound health of the leader. If I may ask, what kind of executive experience does a man need to be President?
According to him, it is an incontrovertible fact that Waziri already went through the rigours of electoral processes and was elected Adamawa state governor before the former president Olusegun Obasanjo picked him as his vice president.
He added:
“Since 1999, we’ve had 16 years of uninterrupted democracy where PDP held sway and out of that span of years, the north barely had it for two years with Yar’adua, Obasanjo(S/W) had it for eight good years, Goodluck Jonathan(S/S) had it for 6 years, so the south had 14 years in a stretch.
“At the moment, PDP is not cut out for zoning arrangement, it is only looking for a candidate who can rescue Nigeria from the retrogressive state wherein APC brought it. The only Messiah that can do that and rescue the nation out of the doldrums is none other than Atiku Abubakar.”
The FOW chief also stated that as the case stands now Afegbua needs to get busy and not waste away chasing shadows, saying that he should swallow his pride and send emissaries to IBB to reabsorb him as spokesman, a post he was relieved of for being too loose in his articulation.
Why Afegbua must retrace his steps
He said another opportunity still lies in wait for him, if the earlier one is not possible, to approach his master, the former governor of Edo state, Comrade Adams Oshiomole to help him out.
Bukky emphasised that it is a clear misnomer for Afegbua, who barely has anything job or business but mills around politicians to get his nest fested, to now have the temerity to malign Waziri Adamawa, who has a conglomerate of businesses known to all and sundry.
Afegbua slams Atiku, says zoning Means same thing as federal character
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Kassim Afegbua, on Sunday, February 13, urged Atiku to speak the truth in respect of zoning as enshrined in the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
It was reported that Afegbua was reacting to comments credited to the former vice president that zoning of the presidential ticket was not enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The ex-commissioner, earlier, advised Atiku to quit partisan politics on account of old age, reiterated yesterday his stand that the former VP quit the stage for a presidential candidate of southern extraction.
Source: Legit.ng
