The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has come under attack for asking Nigerians not to cast votes based on tribe.
Statesmen, politicians, ethnic nationality groups, and the Presidential Campaign Council of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday chided Atiku for what they described as fanning the embers of disunity.
At a parley in Abuja organized by Arewa Joint Committee, Atiku, who is from Adamawa State in the Northeast, urged Northerners not to vote for Yoruba and Igbo presidential candidates in next year’s polls.
He said the North does not need an Igbo or Yoruba president, but “someone from the North.”
Atiku stressed: “I have traversed the whole of the country. This is what the Northerner needs. He (Northerner) doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Igbo. This is what the Northerner needs. I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of Northern origin.”
Apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, insisted that Atiku should apologize to the Igbo and entire Southern Nigeria for bringing divisive politics into his campaigns.
Ohanaeze spokesman Alex Ogbonnia said: “That was a very provocative remark coming from a former vice president of Nigeria. His remark, perhaps, brings out his mindset about the country.”
