Former Governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2012 poll in Edo state, High Chief Jacob Egietseme Idinye on Sunday, congratulated the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on his emergence as the Presidential Candidate of the (PDP) during the just concluded party primary held in Abuja on Saturday.
Idinye in a chat with the publisher of VERACITY DESK, Emmanuel Ajibulu emphasized on the need for all the stakeholders to remain focused, dogged, loyal and united inspite of the hurdles mounted by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2023 general election.
The seasoned broadcaster said: “As a patriotic member of the PDP, I feel so fulfilled, elated and extremely comfortable that the former Vice President clinched the party’s flag as the 2023 presidential candidate. I sincerely congratulate him and I make bold to say he is the next President of Nigeria by the grace of God.
“As a true party man I also extend my commendation to other Presidential contenders at the PDP National Convention for their resilience, courage, patriotism and esteemed spirit of sportsmanship which they displayed throughout the consultation period up to the National Convention and also in offering Nigerians better deal to stem the tide hopelessness.
“This is the time for all our members to be more united and advance the interest of the party, which is to defeat APC in 2023. There is no gainsaying the fact that all our Presidential contenders are eminently qualified and that their aspirations were driven by patriotism in line with the policy thrust of the PDP to secure Nigeria from a clueless government that has divided us and destroyed our democratic processes and institutions. APC is a total misfit and they must be rooted out of power and I must say again that Alhaji Atiku has the magic wand to rescue the country.”
Reacting to which zone of the country deserves to be the next President of Nigeria, he said:
“The country has moved beyond zoning, and what all Nigerians want now is a President who can take Nigeria out of damaged economy, insecurity, poor educational system, lack of infrastructure, epileptic power supply, unemployment; we are desirous of a leader who can unite Nigerians, break all barriers, bring back fortunes and development, etc and that person is Atiku.
“He has the requisite knowledge, capacity and experience and intimidating credentials and pedigree to sail through his ambition. He is a detrabilized Nigerian, a pan Nigerian with no ethnic coloration, in his conduct right from his days as Custom officer and as Vice President of Nigeria. The records are there for anyone to verify. Having said that however, I understand Alhaji Atiku is from North East and that region hasn’t produced President in the last 62 years of our nationhood, therefore in the spirit of fairness, equity and justice he deserves to be the next President on behalf of his region and in the larger interest of Nigerians. And I am confident to say he will have more than 70% votes of Nigerians.
Idinye equally extolled the virtues of the PDP delegates, describing their conduct to be “patriotic” in nature.
“However, the delegates have also followed the path of patriotism in producing Atiku as the Presidential candidate to lead PDP and by extension Nigerians to victory in the 2023 Presidential poll.
“The emergence of His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, with his excellent performance record and unmatched popularity across the nation, signals the beginning of PDP’s historic journey back to power in 2023 to commence the process of rescuing, reuniting, redirecting and rebuilding our nation from the ashes of the misrule of the APC led government.
What Nigerians expect from our Party at the moment is to put aside all personal and sectional interests, reinforce our unity and lead the charge to salvage our nation and return her to the path of unity, national cohesion and economic prosperity.
“Let me also use this medium to salute the integrity of PDP NWC, the PDP Governors’ Forum, the Board of Trustees, the National Assembly Caucus, the Senator David Mark-led National Convention Organizing Committee (NCOC), High Chief Raymond Anthony Aleogho Ayaoghena Dokpesi and all other organs and structures of our Party across the federation for our collective efforts in ensuring the success of our National Convention despite the road blocks mounted by the APC.
“This is an exciting moment for me as a stakeholder and I have no doubt that Atiku’s latest milestone will turn things around positively for our dear country as we approach another election year. I further appeal to every great member of PDP, the contestants, the Governors, current and past leaders to be actively engaged in bringing back every aggrieved member on board so that we can achieve landslide victory in 2023 because Nigeria is thirty and hungry for a purpose driven paradigm shift and that time is here,” Idinye said.
