Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, stated that he has no hidden agenda but to serve the people of Nigeria.
He spoke in Yola, Adamawa State, yesterday at an event where thousands of supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Atiku, who was received by a mammoth crowd at the Mahmud Ribadu Square in Yola, said he would address the challenges facing Nigeria if elected.
He was returning to his hometown for the first time since becoming the PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate.
Atiku urged the electorate in Adamawa State to consolidate the support he has received throughout his 30-year political career.
He also called on party members to unite and work together.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has stated that he will not step down despite pressure on him to do so.
Ayu is said to be pressured to step down as part of the condition to settle the rift between the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
Atiku and Wike have been at odds since the conclusion of the party’s presidential primary and the nomination of Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as the vice presidential candidate.
However, Ayu stated that he had not resigned and had no intention of doing so, noting that he was prepared to lead the party to victory in the 2023 elections.
“We restate, therefore, that the PDP National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, has not resigned and has no plan of resigning. For clarity and emphasis, he was elected for a tenure of four years,” Ayu’s media aide, Simon Imobo-Tswam, said in a statement yesterday.
The spokesman of the PDP, Hon Debo Ologunagba, denied knowledge of any condition from Wike’s camp, asking the national chairman to step down.