Atiku on Saturday declared in Kaduna that the North should shun southern candidates in next year’s presidential election.
Atiku’s two main rivals, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress and Peter Obi of the Labour Party , are Yoruba and Igbo respectively from the southern part of the country.
With the three northern zones having the majority of the 95 million registered voters, Atiku, who is from Adamawa State in the North-east zone, will have a clear advantage over his two southern rivals if voters are swayed by primordial sectional sentiments. Atiku has been facing a crisis in his party arising from his return as the flag bearer. He was the party’s candidate in 2019. The PDP power rotation policy was suspended after the southern wing of the party had pushed the position of national chairman to the North, in anticipation of being given a free run for the presidential ticket.
On Friday, Mr Wike said: “We had not done our primaries and a man came out and said if the presidential candidate came from his area, he would quit. Honour it! It is integrity and part of the hallmark of leadership isthe PDP tells you, we will do it? However, Mr Wike is adamant. He noted on Friday: “Section 7 of the constitution of our party says all party and elective offices must be zoned. That is why we were clamouring for the zoning to be done and the chairmanship went to the North. But they said the presidency should not be zoned contrary to the provision of Section 7.
Before his indiscreet remark against his southern rivals, Atiku had earlier published a five-point development agenda. At the Kaduna meeting with the northern political leaders, he expanded on his promises in that document. For the country to achieve a strong and resilient economy, the PDP candidate said it needs to restructure, diversify and strengthen the productive base of the economy. He said the federal government under his leadership will support subnational units to develop better means of generating revenue.
On his part, Mr Tinubu, who spoke at the 7th edition of the annual Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit , also in Kaduna, promised to lead an efficient government that will eliminate revenue and expense leakages across all federal government areas, and leverage technology into government operations.
He also pledged to introduce policies that will make it easier to transfer titles and carry out transactions on landed properties. He promised to work with the private sector to significantly expand mortgage financing and“We will collaborate with key technology partners to develop policies that promote the use and integration of technology across other sectors within the nation.
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