Tinubu Mocks Atiku, Says Nigeria Won’t Return to PDP’

• …Backs Oshiomhole against forces seeking his removal

Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, wednesday in Abuja dismissed the current stay of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Dubai for the perfection of his campaign strategy, saying Nigeria won’t return to “the pit” the PDP led the country into for 16 years.

Tinubu, who made these scathing remarks while answering questions from journalists after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, described PDP 16-year reign in the country as an illusion which he said Nigerians would never return to.

“We don’t fear, whether he’s in the jungle or in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, people are free to meet and strategise in anyway they feel but we are not going back to the illusion of the PDP.

“It is not possible. Nigerians will not do that. They say slow and steady wins the race. We inherited that from our forefathers and knowledgeable people. We can’t go back to the pit that we inherited for 16 years. They can strategise from anywhere but a leopard cannot change its skin,” he said.

The APC leader who however said he was opposed to threats by some party men to remove the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, added that every member has the responsibility to respect the supremacy of the party.

Tinubu highlighted various stages the party went through before the primaries as well as the agreements reached, saying those who lost out in the primaries should accept their fate instead of resorting to undermining the party supremacy.

He said: “We all have to respect the party supremacy. You were all here when we had the congress. We elected the new executives at the convention we had. The NEC was formed and we surrendered to avoid conflict, domination and abuses of power.

“We surrendered our rights to the National Working Committee (NWC) headed by Oshiomohole that the NWC should set up electoral bodies to supervise various state congresses and elections.

“We signed off for it. So if it is not in our individual favour, so be it. We gave three options- where there is no consensus for one candidate, you go to the next level.

“The next level is the stakeholders’ delegate, and you have to be supervised by the NWC of the party-national election committee of the party. That shows party supremacy or the freest option.

“If you win, you win and if you fail, go home. Then, appeal committee was set up to listen to all appeals, which is the internal mechanism for conflict resolution. So you cannot turn round against that.

“The party is supreme. It must be respected. Abuses will not do it and anger will not solve it. It is party politics. Someone will win while other will lose too.”