Abubakar Atiku – the presidential flag-bearer of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Saturday told his fellow Northerners to vote for him – rather than a Yoruba or Igbo candidate – to become Nigeria’s president in 2023 because he’s a Pan-Nigerian with a northern extraction that has built bridges across the country.
The former vice president said this in response to a question posed him by the spokesman of the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, during an interactive session with Arewa Joint Committee held in Kaduna.
The event was aired live on TV.
When Baba-Ahmed asked Atiku why Northerners should vote for him, he replied: “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the north and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country. This is what the Northerner needs. It (s/he) doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate. I stand before you as a Pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”
He added he knew every part of the country and if elected as Nigeria’s president in 2023 he would form a government of national unity.
“I have traversed the whole of this country, I know the whole of the country, I have built bridges across the country”
Atiku also took and answered questions on ecology, the economy, women participation in politics and on many other Nigerian issues.
Groups such as the Arewa Consultative Forum, Arewa House, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, Northern Elders Forum and Arewa Research and Development Project, among others, organized the interactive session.
