Masari: Atiku, Obi Will Lose to Tinubu in 2023 Presidential Elections

•Admits former VP remains formidable force, dismisses Obi as inconsequential

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Governor of Katsina State, Mr Aminu Masari, yesterday maintained that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Mr Atiku Abubakar and the Labour Party (LP) presidential standard bearer in next year’s presidential poll, Mr Peter Obi, do not stand a chance in the 2023 election.

Speaking with veteran journalist and presenter, “Journalists Hangout”, Mr Babajide Otitoju, Masari, the former House of Representatives Speaker, particularly took a swipe at Obi, noting that nobody knows him in the north, especially in Katsina.

Masari stressed that anybody aspiring to become Nigeria’s next leader must be willing to operate beyond ethnic and religious inhibitions.

“I don’t know him (Obi). He was somebody who was governor of Anambra state. Go and ask a Katsina man how many politicians know Peter Obi. We need a presidential candidate of Nigeria that has gone beyond all barriers whether tribal, ethnic and religious or regional etc,” Masari maintained.

The governor of President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state admitted that Atiku remains a formidable force in the run-up to the poll, but stated that the political clout of the APC’s candidate, Bola Tinubu, far outweighs whatever Atiku brings to the table.

Describing Atiku as a perennial contestant, Masari pointed out that the former vice president will still lose this time , same way it has happened in the past.

“Atiku is a force, but our force is greater than him and he knows it. He’s a veteran at contesting elections and also a veteran loser,” Masari declared

Told that this perhaps remains the best chance for an Atiku presidency, Masari stated that it had been said in the past that each opportunity presented the best  chance for Atiku to win, insisting that the perception was not new.

He maintained that like in the last couple of elections where the former vice president contested,  Atiku’s aspiration to rule Nigeria will fall flat again in 2022,  insisting that  Tinubu will emerge Nigeria’s next president.

Masari stressed that the north had already bought into that thinking that Tinubu will take over from Buhari, with the region’s current unshaken support for the former Lagos state Governor.

“ Bola is not a new name,” he said, urging Nigerians to point to a better candidate than the APC presidential candidate as the build-up to the election intensifies.