Atiku: A South-Easterner will succeed me as president, says ‘I have three Igbo children’

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25, 2023 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, struck a deal with South-Easterners.

He said: “If you vote for me and I win, one of you will be my successor. I have three Igbo children and I am saying this for the very first time in public. So, my relationship with Ndigbo did not start today.

“I have had close relationship with the Igbo and this influenced my choices of Senator Ben Obi and Mr. Peter Obi as my running mates in my two previous outings as presidential candidate. Again, I have chosen another great Igbo here (Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State) for the third time as my running mate”.

Speaking at the PDP South-East zone stakeholders meeting at the Base Event Centre, Enugu, the Waziri Adamawa, who insisted that he would win the 2023 presidential poll, said his great relationship with the Igbo would continue until they assume the presidency after his tenure.

The former Vice President assured that he would make the Igbo ride on his shoulders.
Speaking on five major areas his administration would develop if elected president in 2023, Atiku said: “We must win the election for the sake of Nigeria. It is our responsibility to unify Nigeria as I take the lead”.
Vowing that his administration would include state policing, Atiku recalled his disagreement with his former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, while in office, saying that “this is an opportunity to differentiate a criminal issue and political matter”.
On subsidy, he said “it is a fraud”.
Atiku further expressed worry over Mondays sit-at-home observed in the South-East, which was introduced by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He regretted that the zone “which is the commercial area that feeds the economy”, has been crippled by the sit-at-home order.
He also urged the elders to address South-East youths who he claimed are misguided, to maximize the party’s victory in the 2023 elections.

Atiku, however, expressed fears that the election would be a very tough one, “but by God’s grace, PDP will win”.
On his part, Atiku’s running mate, Okowa, said the country is divided and needs a capable hand to reunite it.
He expressed optimism that the PDP is the only party with the capacity to reunite Nigeria.
He said: “We are in a country that is disunited. We cannot trust ourselves. This present government has disunited it more than ever.
“The solution to the problem of Nigeria is on who has the capacity. It is only PDP that has the strength in the whole six geo-political zones.”

At the meeting were PDP Acting Chairman, Board of Trustees, Senator Adolphus Wabara; Enugu State Governor; Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the party’s former spokesman, Olisa Metuh, ex-Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, Mr Hyde Onuagulichi, and Sen. Uche Ekwunife, amongst others. 
The event was greeted with a mammoth crowd and party faithful from the South-East, comprising Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Abia states.
Atiku flew to Akanu Ibiam International Airport for the event.