Alhaji Atiku AbubakarFormer Nigerian Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar has formally declared his intention to run for the 2023 Presidency, warning that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under which he wants to run cannot survive another eight years as opposition party.
Atiku, who also warned against zoning the presidential ticket, added: “I am making this call because I’m afraid that if we do not win in 2023, it means we will be in opposition again for the next eight years.
“By the next eight years, I don’t know how many of us will be left in politics and it may even ultimately lead to the death of the party because people gravitate, particularly in developing countries like Nigeria.”
Atiku, who was the PDP Presidential candidate in 2019, made the declaration to stage a come-back in 2023 at a meeting with members of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT) in Abuja today, March 15. He asked the party elders to work with him in the quest to secure the PDP presidential ticket.
He claimed that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, under which he served as Vice President, remains Nigeria’s best since the country returned to democratic rule in 1999.
“The PDP government in which I served as Vice President from 1999 to 2007 is the best since Nigeria returned to democratic rule 23 years ago. Many of you were part of the success story of that government. No administration since then has made as much achievement as our administration.
“All these are based on facts. I challenge everybody to take any aspect of our growth whether it is economy, whether it is healthcare, whether it is agriculture, whether it is education, the landmark achievements we made in 1999 to 2007 have not been matched by any subsequent administration.”
