Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to unite for the sake of the party’s interest and the country.
Reacting to the current frictions in the PDP, Atiku said the party cannot afford to be divided at this critical point in time when Nigerians are desperately yearning for change in the face of their miserable living conditions.
He said that an opposition that people look up to as an alternative cannot afford to be fighting itself and lend its hands to the ruling party for its own destruction.
The former vice president dismissed insinuations that he was fueling the crisis in the party, adding that on the contrary, he had been lately involved in reconciliation efforts within the party across the country and had backed reconciliation processes aimed at diffusing tensions in the party.
He appealed to the “combatants to sheathe their swords and give the reconciliation mechanisms of the party a chance.”
In a statement issued by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku noted that the interest of the PDP far supersedes that of any individual, assuring that the party will overcome its current travails, as long as all hands are on the deck.
“The PDP is greater than our individual ambitions. We have to consolidate the party first before we talk about our ambitions. We have to be careful not to play into the hands of the ruling party.
“We can’t afford a one-party system in Nigeria that denies our people a viable alternative for true change in 2023,” the former vice president said.
He warned that lack of unity and internal cohesion could help the ruling party more than the PDP, and that “those who want Nigerians to continue with the current hardship in the land will be eager to fuel the crisis in the PDP for their political advantage.”
Atiku enjoined PDP leaders to put personal differences aside and work for the good of the party, adding that “divided soldiers cannot fight a war and win.”
