News / politics

Tinubu demanded to be my vice president as ACN presidential candidate — Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on members of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party to be united in working towards the victory of party in 2023.

Abubakar spoke in an interactive session with BoT members to seek their support for his presidential aspiration in Abuja.

He said anything short of victory would not be good for the party.

He said that the 2023 general election offered the party the opportunity to return to power. He said: “I am worried and you should be worried too that if we do not win, it means we will be in opposition again for the next eight years.

“By the next eight years, I don’t know how many will be left in politics and it may even ultimately lead to the death of the party because people gravitate, particularly in developing countries, towards governments.

“Ordinary people naturally gravitate towards government.

“So this is a very, very crucial and historical moment in history, for our survival.

“I want you to think about it.

“We are now at a crucial moment in this country.

“Many of you here, it is either we retire together or we move on together.”

The former vice president said that PDP administration had from 1999 to 2007 had remarkable achievements that has not been matched by any subsequent administration.

Abubakar said that PDP would scored more votes in 2023 if the BoT members worked together.

He said: “Somebody said that we recorded 12 million votes during the last election.

“Those are not only my votes.

“Those were our votes.

“In achieving or recording those 11 million votes, it was all of us and I believe if we work together again, we can surpass those votes.”

Abubakar dismissed insinuations that he was working against the possible zoning of the PDP presidential ticket to the South East.

He said: “In the party, we invented and formulated this zoning policy simply because we wanted every part of this country to have a sense of belonging and I personally have …

News / politics

Ohanaeze lambasts Dokpesi over 2023 presidency

Apex Igbo socio-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has berated the Chairman of Daar Communications Limited, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, for saying the South East cannot win the 2023 presidential election for the Peoples Democratic Party.

The position of Ohanaeze Ndigbo was contained in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alex Ogbonnia.

It said it was disheartening that Dokpesi, one of the leaders of the South South Peoples Assembly, would profile the entire South as electoral liability to the PDP and back the North for the presidency.

It said: “One can easily understand the psychological ambivalence in the Dokpesi persona. On the other hand, there is no reason for the condescension and disdain he handed over to the entire south. According to him, ‘even I dare say there is no candidate from the south that you put in the north today that will be able to win.’ In another development,  Dokpesi recalls his friendship with Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his support for Tinubu’s presidential ambition. For the avoidance of doubt, several educated refined patriotic northerners are allergic to the supremacist born to rule entrepreneurs which has created the current Nigerian dilemma. “All the 17 southern governors in their meetings have resolved on the need for a power shift to the south. The Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committee on zoning has declared that the national chairmanship of the  PDP should go to the north, while the Presidency should go to the south.

“It is therefore curious, the kind of appraisal parameters or kind of epitaph that the business mogul, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, wishes to be remembered. In one sentence, Dokpesi proclaimed that “If we are the Nigerians, I want us to be, if we believe in the unity of Nigeria and we also believe in equity, justice, and fairness, there is no reason we should not give it to the South East if the slot is given to the south. In another breath, Dokpesi averred that ‘whoever emerges as the president of Nigeria would have to compensate the people of the South East …