Atiku
On Monday, Former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode George, said ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar must wait until 2031 if his desperate to run for President again.
In a statement on Wednesday, George, said power would not return to the North, where Atiku is from, until 2031.
Paul Ibe, Atiku’s media adviser, but in a swift reaction, knocked George, describing his comment as insensitive and premature.
“We cannot afford to put the cart before the horse. At this point, Atiku Abubakar’s preoccupation is not 2027. His concern is about 2024.
“It is about 2025 and 2026 and beyond. His concern is about the plight of Nigerians who are literarily going through hell because of the failed trial-and-error policies of this administratio,” Ibe said.
But George, in his statement, argued that after the eight years of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari in power, the South must also complete eight years before power can return to the North in 2031.
Recently, reports have surfaced of Atiku and other northern political leaders working to shift power back to the North in 2027, when President Bola Tinubu, a southerner, will complete his first term in office.
But George, in his statement on Wednesday, argued that a southerner must hold the office of the President from 2023 to 2031 “because that is the reality of our country, the PDP’s Constitution, and our polity.”
He stated “In our party, this is the right and logical thing to do in the present political circumstances. But if Alhaji Abubakar is desperate to contest again, I will advise him, as a friend, a party man and a brother, to wait till 2031. By then, he will be 85 years (old).”
However, George questioned Atiku’s ambition for public office and urged him to follow the example of U.S. President Joe Biden by stepping aside for younger southerners. Punch
