Atiku To Wike-led Group: Reconsider Your Stand, Let’s Join Hands For Nation Building

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has expressed surprise with the purported withdrawal of the Governor Nyesom Wike-led group from his presidential campaign Council.

Atiku said that as he was informed by officials of the PDP, apart from the  Rivers State chapter of the Party, all the remaining states of the federation submitted names of people who they wanted included in the Presidential Campaign Council.

He therefore appealed to Wike-led group to have a rethink and retrace their steps by joining him in the efforts to rebuild the nation as against their resolve to withdraw from the Presidential Campaign Council.

Atiku, who stated these while reacting to the purported withdrawal of the Wike group from the PDP Presidential campaign Council, said members of the Party must forge on with the task and the mandate that they have been bestowed with, stressing that it is time, therefore, to move on with the formidable tasks of nation building ahead of us.

Commenting on the demand for the removal of the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, from office, Atiku explained that the decision for Dr. Ayu to resign from office is personal to Dr. Ayu and, stressing that neither he nor anyone else can make that decision for him.

In the words of Atiku; “As to the calls for the removal of Dr. Ayu from office, however, I will state that, as a committed democrat and firm believer in the rule of law and democratic tenets, and our party being one set up, organized and regulated by law and our constitution, it is my absolute belief that every thing that we do in our party must be done in accordance with, and conformity to, the law and our constitution.

“If Dr. Ayu is to be removed from office, it must be done in accordance with the laws that set out the basis for such removal. In any event, you will all recall that the very body that is empowered by law to initiate this removal from office, has already passed a vote of confidence in him,” he said.

The PDP presidential candidate also said the nation is currently in the throes of a multidimensional crisis encompassing insecurity, economic meltdown, disunity and mutual mistrust and educational dislocations, adding that he has a plan to address these issues and he has been given the ticket to lead the party in next year’s presidential elections, with the singular mandate to come and lead the efforts to cure these ills.

Atiku said that it is in this light that he reached out to every single member of the PDP to join him in the massive undertaking required to reset the ship of state, and help rebuild the country.

He said; “Every single person who loves this country, as I do, is needed for the arduous tasks that face us ahead as a nation, and this includes every member of the PDP. “And it is my fervent hope and prayer that every man and woman of goodwill will join hands with us to help rebuild and reposition our beloved country.

“The people that addressed the press must have their reasons for withdrawing from the Presidential Campaign Council, and I will not speculate as to what those reasons may be.

“The above notwithstanding, and for the sake of our country, our children, and those yet unborn, we must not, for one minute, shirk in our responsibilities to rebuild this beloved country of ours.

“Accordingly, we must forge on with the task and the mandate that we have been bestowed with. It is time, therefore, to move on with the formidable tasks of nation building ahead of us,” Atiku said.