Atiku says he is ready for alliance with Obi
- BlamesPDP govs for crisis that broke the party
The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has declared that he and his party are ready to forge a win-win alliance with Mr Peter Obi and the Labour Party as a reliable route to producing an Igbo president.
The Oracle Today reports that all the three presidential contenders in last Saturday’s polls captured six states each, and Atiku said that Obi’s influence in the six sates following him would have earned a joint uncontested victory.
He said PDP is ready for an alliance with LP if Obi would consider the proposition, Atiku said at a press conference in Abuja where he maintained that he is the stepping stone for the aspiration of the Igbo to produce Nigerian President.
He said the exit if Peter Obi wounded the PDP; “because all the votes he carried were PDP votes in the South South and the South East.”
He noted that Obi should have been more patient at the time he left the party to protest demand by sitting governors to take key positions in the party. He said Obi needs strong alliances outside the South to become president.
“You all know that to be President of this country, you need votes from everywhere. We are ready to have a dialogue with him. I don’t think we will have any problem if he wants to have a dialogue with PDP either to form an alliance or not.”
“So, as far as I am concerned, Peter is welcome to have a dialogue with the PDP.”
Atiku stated that he is sold on the notion of Igbo president, adding that his belief formed his consistent choice of the Igbo as running mate all times.
“When I ran in 2019, I picked an Igbo man as a running mate simply because I felt that after any other zone again, the next zone must be South East. “In 2011, I also picked another Igbo man. And in 2023, I also picked another Igbo man. And I have always said that I will be a stepping stone to an Igbo Presidency.
“Because there is no zone alone in this country that can produce a President on its own, I have always told my Igbo compatriots that you negotiate for power, you don’t fight for it. So, for anybody to think that I have anything against Labour Party, I think Peter [Obi] was in a rush.
“Do you know why I say he was in a rush? When the campaign and our PDP Governors sat down and said they must produce the next President, Vice President, and Chief of Staff amongst them, Peter got scared and left.
“I did not get scared. I stood up against the Governors and I fought them and won the primaries, so if he was there, nothing could have stopped him from becoming a running mate.”
