Former Edo Governor, Adams Oshiomhole has described the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar as the weakest of the top candidates in the 2023 presidential election.
Oshiomhole stated that Atiku cannot be trusted because Governors within his party do not even trust him (Atiku) because he is a “serial betrayer of agreement.”
He said: “He (Atiku) is the weakest link right now among the three leading candidates.
“PDP governors said we can’t trust him, every agreement we made with him, he broke it; he is a serial betrayer of agreements.”
Oshiomhole said Atiku’s ambition is just only about himself and not about Nigeria.
He said: “In this case, everything is on the surface. First, there are three main candidates, and there are several other candidates, and I believe they all have good intentions.
“It is no secret that you have at least 5 Governors (PDP G-5 governors) including Governors that matters in the south south — when you talk about the stronghold of the PDP, some of the Governors revolting against Atiku are from that part of the country.
“Our candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu went to Gbaramatu Kingdom for the first time, and I’m not sure a PDP candidate has ever gone there because they’ve always taken them for granted. PDP is a house divided against itself.
“The real damage being done to the situation of PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku is that Governors who have never decamped from PDP, who can be called PDP indigenes, they’ve spoken to the fact that you can’t trust the PDP candidate Atiku, and they withdrew from his campaign council. Even Mimiko is in that group.
“Atiku went to Ondo state today (Wednesday), and didn’t have the honour to be received by high-profiled politician in the state. This is not secret to be uncovered.
“If five people (G-5 governors) have reasons to question the character of Atiku, that you can’t trust his words, that he can’t even manage his own party, he can’t grant concessions. He is so fixated about certain things. He is totally insensitive to project Nigeria — the need to keep Nigeria together. He could go to a place like Kaduna and speak to them saying don’t vote a Yoruba man, he didn’t say don’t vote for Tinubu, that’s a huge difference. Don’t vote an Igbo man, a man who seeks to govern Nigeria has said this publicly on records, how can you entrust him? You can’t manage your household, and you want to preach unity, that’s not possible.
“It is not difficult to see why Atiku can’t win. He can’t. When he had the benefit of joint ticket between Atiku and Obi, he got all the votes in the east, but he couldn’t make it. What miracles does he have? This house is broken.
“Atiku is battle weary, he has nothing new to say. He will sell everything. I will sell NNPC, once he says he will sell NNPC, people will say Oh! that was the way you sold NITEL. What became of NITEL? oh! I will enrich my friends, so is it about enriching your friends?
“I think for Atiku himself it is just hard for him to throw in the towel and say I give up, so he’d rather patch it up. He’s the weakest link right now, among the three leading candidates. Atiku and Obi have been on the ballot before, and they were rejected.
“What Atiku couldn’t atikulate last time, is he planning to disatikulate. For Atiku, if he is not a candidate, he’ll take flight to Dubai. Tinubu supported his wife, while he looked after the home front in Lagos. He provided support for Buhari to win.
“Tinubu speaks to character. When you’ve set some beliefs, you cannot be jumping from one party to another. Play Atiku’s statement since 1999, as a vice president he challenged his own boss, at the end of the tenure, he is in history as the only vice-president who decided to question the right of his boss to contest for second term, and the boss persuaded him to let him run. Atiku’s ambition is just about himself.”
*Culled from The Nation
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