Ohanaeze Ndigbo asks Atiku to switch his attention to 2027 as he will lose next year

OHANAEZE Ndigbo has chided the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar saying he should start preparing for the 2027 elections as he will get lose next year as penance for him betraying Dr Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

In February, Nigeria goes to the polls and Alhaji Abubakar, who served as vice president between 1999 and 2007, is one of the leading contenders. Other major candidates include former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party.

Alhaji Abubakar's candidacy in particular is seen as controversial as being a northern Muslim like outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari, him standing is viewed as a breach of the gentleman's agreement on rotation. Although not constitutional, Nigeria's elite have an agreement that the presidency of the country will rotate between the north and the south of the country.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo has told the former vice president that he is wasting his time standing. Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the secretary-general of the pan-Igbo body, said Atiku was a victim of nemesis, stressing that he was reaping the fruits of what he did to former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.

Mazi Isiguzoro said: “Nemesis has caught up with Atiku Abubakar after he treacherously rounded hijacked some governors in 2015 to provide the opposition for the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan and succeeded in forming alliances with then ACN, led by Bola Tinubu, CPC led by Muhammadu Buhari, ANPP led by Ogbonnaya Onu, a faction of Apga led by Rochas Okorocha and the then New PDP, which he led.  He was able to lead former Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers, former Governor Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano, former Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto, former Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara and former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa against their own party, the PDP.

“Now nature has finally come up against him and he is reaping the reward, let him stop wasting his time and resources. Ndigbo commends the G5 governors led by Governor Wike for their opposition to Atiku Abubakar’s presidency in the 2023 election.

“Whatever Atiku had sowed in 2015, he is now reaping in 2023. He and the same gang members that destroyed Jonathan’s chances in 2015 have also undermined the PDP zoning formula that favours the southeast.

"We are also aware of his plan to deny the southeast important positions in government if he wins but God will not allow him. Governor Wike and the G-5 governors should move on with their historical activities to save the country from imminent danger of the succession of President Buhari by another northerner.

“Atiku’s presidency will reinforce the disintegration of Nigeria through separatists agitations in the South and will authorise the activities of Boko Haram insurgents in the north and killer herdsmen. These governors have crafted their names in gold by thwarting the heinous plans to nullify the gentleman’s agreement of rotational presidency between the north and the south which was the basis for peace and sustainable democracy in Nigeria since 1999. As a serial presidential contestant, Atiku should start planning for 2027."