Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Osita Okechuhwu, on Sunday, advised the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar to honourably retire immediately from partisan politics.
He also urged the former vice president to stop making false claims about the February 25 presidential poll.
Okechukwu expresed regrets that Atiku pretended about the obvious fact that his desperation and crass opportunism led to PDP’s defeat but rather blamed the Labour Party flagbearer, Peter Obi, for his political misfortune.
Atiku, at a press conference in Abuja last Friday had accused Obi’s Labour Party of taking PDP’s votes in the South-East and South-South.
But Okechukwu in his reaction to the development while speaking to journalists in Abuja on Sunday, said Atiku allowed his entitlement mentality to becloud his sense of judgment.
The VON boss wondered why the PDP flagbearer wanted to deceive Nigerians with the false narrative that Obi rushed out of PDP when in fact it was Atiku’s insistence to contest against the zoning principle that propelled Obi to find an alternative platform.
Okechukwu, who is a foundation member of APC, recalled how the former Vice President brought his opportunism to APC to challenge President Muhammadu Buhari for the APC presidential ticket in 2014 on the patriotic premise of rotation convention.
He said, ”Now, for Atiku to play the blame game by bellyaching against Mr Peter Obi, who turned out as the hero of the 2023 presidential election, is quite distressing.
”How can Atiku claim that Obi was scared out by PDP Governors when it was public knowledge that his huge war chest and competition with Nyesom Wike made PDP’s primary too contentious and corrupt for Peter Obi?
”It was Atiku’s opportunism that eclipsed the PDP and halted Obi’s hurricane. The simple truth is that His Excellency, Atiku Abubukar’s opportunism eclipsed the PDP.”
The APC pleaded with Atiku to retire honourably from active politics, rather than playing the sore loser and sulking publicly with false narratives.
Okechukwu said, ”Here was a man who in 2014 defected to APC, on the patriotic premise that the then President Goodluck Jonathan breached the rotation convention between North and South.
”Today, he violently breached the same rotation convention and the constitution of his party with lamentation outcome.”