We assure you of our support, PDP South-West delegates tell Atiku

Sunday, 26 December 2010 00:00 Nuruddeen M. Abdallah

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s) delegates have assured the former Vice President and presidential aspirant, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of their support in the forthcoming party primaries. The delegates gave Atiku this assurance during his two-day campaign trip to the region to meet statutory delegates of the party. The presidential aspirant met with the delegates from Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States at the Protea Hotel, Lagos less than 24 hours after the same delegates, numbering about 585 purportedly endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan as their preferred presidential candidate.

Reacting to the purported endorsement of Jonathan by the delegates, a delegate from Ogun State sent the meeting reeling with laughter when he asked rhetorically, “have you seen where all 585 Yoruba delegates will all vote for one person? Even at the height of Papa Awolowo’s popularity in Yoruba land, he never enjoyed a unanimous support. Why will Jonathan’s own be different?”

A delegate from Oyo State declared during the meeting that “we consult among ourselves. There is no doubt that an overwhelming majority of us are for you. You were instrumental to PDP’s victory in the South West in 2003.You sacrificed your presidential ambition in Jos in 1993 paving the way for Chief MKO Abiola to become the presidential candidate of the SDP. In 1998 and 2003, you were instrumental to the emergence of General Olusegun Obasanjo as president. This is a pay- back time,” he said.

The delegate added that “The Yoruba repay good with good. We assure you of that. We know you and you know us. What is in Jonathan’s Presidency for us? Under Jonathan, we have been reduced from majority to minority party in the South-West. Jonathan is bad luck for South-West PDP,” he added.

The aspirant, who met with the delegates state by state, said that he was surprise by their large turn-out despite reports that they have all endorsed President Jonathan a day earlier. He explained why the delegates should vote for him, repeatedly stating that he had gone through the same reasons at his earlier meetings with the delegates.

Atiku asked the gathering thus: “Among those of us in this race, I want you to consider who has proved to be a tested democrat?” and the crowd responded in the affirmative. He said that he had fought for democracy under military rule; fought to sustain tenets of democracy as vice president and made sacrifices for the sustenance of Nigeria’s democracy.

“I am a founding member of the PDP. I am one of those God used to put the party together in 1998. I have struggled, at the risk of my convenience and comfort, to ensure that the party remains the umbrella for all Nigerians, a party that will guarantee economic prosperity for all Nigerians and one that will promote national unity,” he said.

He added that “I was pushed out of the party, as you all know, because of my insistence that the party must stand by internal democracy. Can you say any other presidential aspirant has done as much as this for our great party?” he asked.

After the meeting with delegates from Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States in Akure, Ondo State last Tuesday, Atiku told journalists that he was leaving the South-West very confident that he enjoys support of majority of delegates in the zone. He said he was particularly excited because in every session he had with delegates, there were many politicians with whom he had worked in PF, SDP and PDP. “It is like a re-union of old friends in all the sessions.