A leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Raymond Dokpesi, called on the southeastern region to support former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s presidential ambition in 2023.
Mr. Dokpesi, a member of the PDP Board of Directors and a media mogul, made the appeal on Monday in Umuahia, while addressing Abia PDP leaders on the need for the region to join Mr. Abubakar.
Mr Abubakar he was the party’s presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, but lost to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Dokpesi assured that Mr. Abubakar, if elected President, would be in office for only a four-year term, and thereafter would pave the way for an Igbo person to succeed him.
He said he believes the Southeast is competent and qualified to run the country, and denied ever having an opinion to the contrary, as was wrongly reported in the media a few years ago.
He said the agitation for a president of Igbo extraction was appropriate, saying the region had suffered from marginalization and needed to be given a chance.
He said that Mr. Abubakar, if elected president, would work to ensure that the agitation takes place, assuring people that he (Dokpesi) would risk his life for the project.
He said it was convenient for the PDP’s presidential standard-bearer to come from the north for the area to complete his remaining term, cut short by the death of President Musa Yar’Adua.
He argued that the north had not yet completed its eight-year term according to the PDP zoning agreement, hence the need for Atiku to receive the presidential ticket.
Dokpesi said that to avoid doubts and fear of possible betrayal, the agreement for Abubakar to remain in office for a period and the transfer to the southeast would be documented “in black and white”.
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He called for greater unity among PDP members to allow the party to win the elections in 2023.
He said the party owed Nigerians an obligation to continue to show exemplary leadership in the center.
“Nigeria is on the brink of total collapse and it is our duty to save the country from ongoing economic difficulties and protracted security challenges,” said Mr. Dokpesi.
He said that Mr. Abubakar has the ability and competence to address the multidimensional challenges of the nation.
In a response, Abia PDP chairman Allwell Asiforo said the chapter would take the message home and make its position known at an appropriate time.
Mr. Asiforo described Mr. Atiku as a great man, who has made “enormous contributions to good governance and the growth of democracy in the country”.
Mr. Abubakar was Vice President under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s PDP administration.
(YAYA)