The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is under pressure to withdraw from presidential race as the National Coordinator of The Patriots Roundtable, Prince Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu, on Saturday, called on him to withdraw from the race for urging Nigerians to vote for a northern candidate and disregard any candidate coming from the south.
Shodipe-Dosunmu, in a statement, described the PDP candidate’s remarks as outrageous, “a nasty faux pas of the worst order.”
The statement reads: “Yesterday (Saturday) the PDP presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar who falsely claims to be a unifier urged Nigerians to vote for a northern candidate and disregard any candidate coming from the south. This is just putting it mildly. What Atiku actually posited is that both Yoruba and Ibo candidates are unreflective of the Nigerian Union.
This is outrageous, a nasty faux pas of the worst order.
“The presidential candidate’s unguarded vituperation is a sad descent into ethnic laager, a blatant celebration of narrow parochial preachment.
“This hurried, uncontemplative withdrawal into ethnic politics belongs to the dark ages of the past. It does not belong to the Nigeria of today. It is a statement that is stripped of statesmanship or enlightened leadership. Atiku hardly demonstrated a genuine leadership of patriotic pulchritude.
“This political folderol is enough to knock him out of the presidential race.
“In a nation of multi-ethnic groups, Atiku has stacked himself up there as the defender of a supergroup. This is hardly ennobling. It is infact a Freudian slip.
“Surely Nigeria does not need a divisive candidate who is selling his tribal origin as the only marketable tool to win the presidency. This is quite sickening and unacceptable.
“At this critical hour when the whole nation is faced with multifarious crisis of existence, it is the duty of a credible presidential candidate to preach what should bring the nation together. It is the duty of a credible leader to preach unity, healing, fairness and the necessary ingredients that will retrieve our nation from plunging into the abyss. Atiku has failed himself. He has failed his party. He has failed this nation. He should apologize and withdraw from the race immediately.”