Nigeria’s major opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to withdraw from the 2023 presidential election.
The party believes the APC presidential candidate has lost his fighting chance in the coming poll amid the controversy trailing the unveiling of his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima.
‘The APC presidential candidate and his party should know that it is in his own interest to withdraw from the race as it will be futile to go into an election in which the will and aspiration of the people are manifestly against him and the APC,’ the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said at a press conference on Friday in Abuja.
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‘Asiwaju has no political fighting chance in the face of the soaring popularity of PDP’s very competent, candid, transparent, people-oriented, and much more prepared presidential candidate, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar at the poll.’
Africa Daily News, New York reports that Tinubu’s choice of Shettima as his running mate in the election recently sparked outrage from various quarters, especially from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) which rejected a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Despite the stance of the religious body, some pictures and videos went viral in which some Christian clerics were said to have attended the unveiling of Shettima – signalling his acceptance as the APC vice-presidential candidate by the said clergymen.
Amid the mixed reactions trailing the development, some of the attendees reportedly said they were paid to attend the event, but the claim was vehemently rejected by Tinubu’s camp.
On its part, the PDP through its spokesman said the reactions that trailed the unveiling ceremony and the presence of the clerics suggested a massive rejection of the ruling party.
It insisted that was in the interest of the ruling party and its presidential candidate to withdraw from the 2023 elections to avoid what it described as a further disgrace.
According to the opposition party, Nigerians cannot afford to have ‘fraudsters, liars, deceivers, perjurers, swindlers, and corrupt individuals’ at the helm of affairs in the country.
Rather, it said it was poised for a winning campaign and open to suggestions and further collaborations with well-meaning Nigerians in a bid to liberate Nigeria in the 2023 general elections.
