Dumebi Kachikwu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of undermining the idea of a southern presidency by allegedly seeking the ADC’s platform for his presidential ambition.
Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, July 17, Kachikwu said Atiku’s political actions over the years reveal a deep-seated opposition to power shifting to the South.
“Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a man whose antecedents clearly show he doesn’t believe anyone from the southern part of Nigeria is deserving of being president of Nigeria, orchestrated this charade for his personal benefit,” Kachikwu said.
“He almost truncated President Obasanjo’s return for a second term because he believed the seat was his. President Jonathan suffered the same fate, and then after eight years of late President Buhari as president, the same Atiku believed it was morally right for him to be the presidential flag bearer of the PDP in the last presidential elections.”
Kachikwu further warned that attempts by Atiku and his allies to hijack the ADC were nothing more than a self-serving agenda.
“There is a lot of deliberate misinformation going on by these agents of destabilisation masquerading as a political coalition.
“There is a clear difference between a political coalition and a political gang. The first has noble ideals while the gang seeks power for personal gains,” he said.
“What we have here today is a gang unable to survive outside political office seeking to hijack the ADC as a means to revive their personal economies.
“They are truly on a rescue mission, but it is a mission to rescue themselves from the harsh economic realities which they themselves created for our nation.”
Kachikwu also rejected claims that he is a mouthpiece for President Bola Tinubu.
“They accuse me of being a paid spokesperson for President Tinubu, and my response is this: it would be an honour to be a spokesperson for the president of the largest black nation on earth, but unfortunately that’s not who I am,” he said.
“Political jobbers who have no visible means of livelihood are always eager to tar others, but I remain unfazed.”
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He alleged that desperate actors were offering huge sums to ADC officials to step down from their positions.
“They are offering some of the state chairmen as much as ₦20,000,000 to resign their positions, which goes to show that their intentions are not honourable,” he claimed.
Addressing what he called a campaign of impersonation, Kachikwu criticised those parading themselves as ADC leaders and dismissed their legitimacy.
“They, with the active support of their cohorts in the media, now say they are the ADC: they are not. I can call myself the president of America till I am blue in the face, but it doesn’t make it so.”
He also dismissed the claim that only party officials can speak on internal matters.
“The imposter who claims he is their spokesperson made bold to say that I am merely the former presidential candidate of the party and not a party official.
“His pedestrian argument is that only party officials can challenge party affairs. This is the same elitist ignorance that brought Nigeria to this point where we believe Nigeria is only for the rich and powerful.
“Bolaji, please be informed that every member of our party, no matter how poor you people have made them, has a say in the ADC,” he said.
Kachikwu concluded by condemning efforts to stage fake defections as part of a wider plan to deceive Nigerians and hijack the party.
“This fake coalition is staging events in different parts of the country where they pay poor Nigerians to say they are decamping from other parties to the ADC.
“This is the typical strategy mesh of these old politicians, and we have had enough of it. They need to sing a new song.”