Atiku contested 2023 presidential election in violation of PDP constitution – Ex Nat’l Vice chairman

From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri

The former National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the South East chairman of the party, Nze Ozichukwu Fidelis Chukwu has said that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had contested the 2023 presidential election in violation of the party’s constitution.

The immediate past President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide said that singular action by the former vice president was a fatal blow to Ndigbo who hold him in a very high esteem.

He equally blamed both former President Jonathan and former Governor Nyesom Wike for their expression of interest for the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the PDP.

He said: “Yes, they have rights. It’s their constitutional right, but those rights are expressible under the context of honour and integrity.” Ozichukwu declared that it was not fair for them to have ignored the sensitivities and sensibilities of the South East, noting that within the PDP, the South East had paid its dues and was rightly expecting the PDP to reciprocate.

He said it is regrettable that the PDP failed them. He, however, advised those who claim to be leaders of the South East PDP to review their roles in the denial of the South East the PDP presidential ticket in 2023.

He said: “Unfortunately again, those putting bold faces and pretending to be heroes of the Igbo evidently suffer anaesthetisation of conscience.”

According to Ozichukwu,  “What the nation seriously needs now is reconciliation and healing. Not only with the Igbo, but also all that feel politically disenfranchised, socially excluded and economically vulnerable, particularly the youths that have been consistently profiled, stigmatised and consequently alienated.”

He said it is important for Nigerians to look for a leader who has character, honour and integrity guided by a sense of history.

“The  leader, who has a reputation for empathy and compassion, not one driven by the pathology of the IDP of our tumultuous political past.”

He advised the Igbo to regain the initiatives and control of their developmental trajectory, insisting that  PDP leaders should save the party from debilitating self-immolation.

However, he admonished the APC not to pay lip service like the PDP in its adoption of zoning and rotation formula.