From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has boasted that its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will roundly defeat the candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi in the South East geo-political zone.
It is believed that South East is the political stronghold of Obi, a two-term former governor of Anambra State.
The spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Mr Charles Aniagwu, said the Labour Party candidate’s popularity in his own zone cannot be compared to that of Atiku.
Aniagwu hinged optimism on the turnout for the party’s presidential rally in Anambra and Imo states, which according to him, indicated that the PDP had what it takes to win in the South East geopolitical zone.
Speaking on a live television programme, Aniagwu said the PDP was still very popular in the South East and urged Nigerians to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa to rescue the nation from destruction.
Aniagwu said contrary to claims that Peter Obi may win because he is from the South East, popular politicians had defeated their opponents in the past even in their strongholds.
According to him, “the same way you have Peter Obi in the South East, the same way you have Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso in the North and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the South West, so individuals will naturally come from somewhere.
“That a man comes from somewhere does not mean that he may not be defeated and I may need to take you back to 1992 and if you could recall Bashir Tofa and Moshood Abiola. Tofa from Kano and Abiola from Ogun State in the South West but Abiola defeated him in Kano.
“So that a man is from a place does not mean that the place will automatically be for him. And so I would not want us to be intimidated by the fact that somebody is from somewhere.
“Atiku is not just speaking and making promises, his chances both in the South East and elsewhere in the country are far brighter than even the northern star and that is on the basis of his pedigree in time past.
“You will recall that between 1999 and 2007, Atiku and Obasanjo held sway in this country and their records are there for everyone to see.”
The campaign spokesman further remarked that Atiku had the ability to search for talents to develop the country as he did while he was vice president.
“Atiku is not just talking because he has the ability to search for talents irrespective of where they are from.
“Dr Okonjo Iweala and Professor Chukwuma Soludo who served as Minister of Finance and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, were discovered by Atiku and they made a great impact during their tenure,” he added.
On bringing peace back to the South East, Aniagwu said Atiku had already enshrined peace and unity in his policy document ‘My Covenant With Nigerians’.
“Atiku has made it very clear that he is going to discuss with both state and non-state actors and the crisis in the South East is basically from non-state actors.
“Some people see them as agitators while others see them as militants but Atiku is not going to be involved in labelling. He will discuss the issues with them and good enough some of the issues are already known to him.
“Issues of under development and marginalization and he says he is going to address them to ensure that every Nigerian irrespective of where you are from is going to be brought on the decision table and once those issues are dealt with, the people agitating would have been assuaged to embrace peace,” he said.
Aniagwu, who is also Delta State Commissioner for Information, said the party’s vice presidential candidate and Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, had addressed similar issues in the state to the extent that the creeks where there used to be agitations are now as peaceful as the upland.
“Atiku besides his pan-Nigerian disposition also believed that that formula worked and will be adopted to bring lasting peace across the country, so we are quite convinced that Atiku will take decisions that will make everybody comfortable by forming a government of national unity,” Aniagwu added.