By Kenneth Okonedu, reporting from Abuja
In a last-minute appeal, an Abuja-based Peoples Democratic Party Chieftain Sir Oluwatobi Ogunbayo has extolled the virtues of the PDP presidential flagbearer Alhaji Atiku Abubakar calling him a completely detribalized Nigerian. He said Alhaji Atiku was in the best position to rescue Nigeria from the depts. the APC-led government had sunk the nation. ‘I have accessed all the candidates involved in this election and I can say with all authority that Atiku has no equal’.
The PDP chieftain was speaking after his Ward tour of the Abuja Municipal Council Areas minutes before the curtains were drawn on campaigns
Mr Ogunbayo disclosed that Alhaji Atiku grew up in Lagos and as such has all it takes to unite the different major tribes. ‘I have worked with this man closely and I am convinced that he knows how to weave round those things’, he declared.
When asked if Atiku was going to follow in Buhari’s footsteps by consolidating the presence of the Fulani tribe, Mr. Ogunbayo sharply waved the issue off, stressing that such a thing will never happen under the Atiku Administration. “It is impossible for Atiku who spent most of his life in the western part of Nigeria would turn around to haunt them. ‘Atiku is a patriotic Nigerian with human feelings running in his blood; we don’t know how that idea crept into the APC regime’, he stated.
The PDP chieftain said described Atiku as a non-tribalist, a non-religious bigot, and a pan-Nigerian. “Atiku is very accessible, very down to earth, and honest; he is not in the mold of any of those so-called APC leaders we have at the moment”, he said. Dismissing the fear most Nigerians have of another Fulani coming to lead after Buhari, Mr. Ogunbayo said under Atiku, Nigerians were going to witness a new era of bliss. “There is nothing to fear about Fulani domination; Atiku is here to build, and not to destroy like what you presently have,” he said
