2023 PDP Presidency: Don’t Confuse Nigerians, Group Warns Atiku
- Former vice president Atiku Abubakar has been warned against making unguarded statement over the decision of northern elders on 2023 presidency
- The northern elders led by Prof. Ango Abdullahi had said that out of four aspirants who presented themselves for consensus, two have been picked
- Atiku, however, rejected the nomination of the ex-Senate president, Bukola Saraki and the governor of Bauchi, Bala Mohammed
Kaduna, Kaduna - A group, the Generational Powershift Forum (GPF) has warned former vice president Atiku Abubakar to "stop seeking unnecessary attention" regarding the emergence of ex-Senate president, Bukola Saraki and Bauchi governor, Bala Mohammed as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) consensus candidate for the north.
Legit.ng reports that the group's national chairman, Ibrahim Abdullahi, who made this known in a media statement on Saturday, April 23, said that when the elders and other relevant stakeholders were drawing the names of possible consensus candidates, Atiku was never considered.
He added that history is now in favour of having comparatively younger politicians as 2023 presidential candidates, saying that the shortlisting of Saraki and Bala Mohammed was a clear demonstration that the change from old brigade to new brigade has already begun.
Abdullahi advised the Wazirin Adamawa to stop rejecting an exercise he was never part of, adding that the ex-vice president should be mindful of the changing pattern of democratic choice after years of recycling old hands, and appreciate the need for a radical democratic change for 2023.
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The statement called on the former VP to join forces with the advocates of change and powershift in the PDP, and let the new brigade take centre-stage or, at the very least, appreciate the yearning of his immediate constituency of Northern Nigeria.
Four aspirants of the northern extraction that presented themselves for the consensus included Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Bala Mohammed, Saraki, and Mohammed Hayatu-Deen.
They were reportedly shortlisted after "a rigorous process" by a special consensus committee chaired by Professor Ango Abdullahi, which made its submission to former Nigeria president, Ibrahim Babangida.
Atiku dropped as IBB, PDP northern elders choose consensus candidates for presidency
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi and former Senate President Bukola Saraki were chosen by northern elders in the PDP as the candidates for the 2023 presidency.
It was reported that Professor Ango Abdullahi, the head of the committee which screened the aspirants from the region, noted that the process that produce Mohammed and Saraki was rigorous.
Abdullahi told journalists in Minna, Niger state capital, on Friday, April 22, that former military head of state, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, received and approved a report submitted to him by the committee on the elders' choice.
Source: Legit.ng