Ohanaeze Demands Apology From Atiku Over Divisive Statement

Ohanaeze Ndigbo has requested an apology from the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over the allegedly divisive statement he made in Kaduna yesterday.

The sociocultural group asked Atiku to retract the statement and also apologise to Igbo and those from the Southern region of the country. The group, in a statement , described Atiku’s pronouncement on the need for northerners to vote only a candidate from the northern region over other tribes’ candidates, as provocative and emotional. The group’s spokesperson, Alex Ogbonna, bemoaned that it was rather unfortunate that the statement by the former Vice President contradicts his claims of building a cosmopolitan and detribalised Nigerian. Ogbonna advanced that the PDP presidential hopeful should have just continued his campaign without creating ethnic tensions that are uncalled for. “That was a very provocative remark coming from a former vice president of Nigeria. His remark perhaps brings out his mindset about the country. “It’s a Freudian slip. Something that slips from somebody’s mouth unintentionally, which reveals the persons deep feeling about something,” the group added. The group in the statement recalled that it is in the history books that Igbo and the South have voted for past presidents like Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Shehu Shagari, Umaru Yar’ adua and Muhammadu Buhari. He said: “That remark is abysmally low. It’s an ill-advised remark. It’s not good for the former vice president. He should find a way to withdraw that remark.” He further said, “Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide is disappointed by that remark by Atiku. This is because Ndigbo had voted for Shagari, Yar’Adua, Buhari and even supported all the military rulers from the North. “So, Ohanaeze is calling on the former vice president to apologise to Nigerians and southerners in particular on that unfortunate remark. It is a divisive one.”

This article was originally published on Naija News