Charles Aniagwu, spokesman for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, has boasted that Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate, will defeat Peter Obi, Labour Party candidate in the South East.
Aniagwu said the turn out for the party’s presidential rally in Anambra and Imo states shows that the party had what it takes to win in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
Speaking on Arise Television on Saturday, Aniagwu said that the PDP was still very popular in the Southeast and urged Nigerians to support Atiku and his running mate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa to rescue the nation from destruction.
Aniagwu said contrary to claims that Obi may win because he was from the Southeast, popular politicians had defeated their opponents in the past even in their strong holds.
According to him, the same way you have Peter Obi in the South East, same way you have Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso in the North and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the South-West, so individuals will naturally come from somewhere.
“That a man comes from somewhere does not mean that he may not be defeated and I may need to take you back to 1992 and if you could recall Bashir Tofa and Moshood Abiola. Tofa from Kano and Abiola from Ogun State in the South-West but Abiola defeated him in Kano.
“So that a man is from a place does not mean that the place will automatically be for him. And so I would not want us to be intimidated with the fact that somebody is from somewhere.
“Atiku is not just speaking and making promises, his chances both in the South-East and elsewhere in the country is far brighter than even the northern star and that is on the basis of his pedigree in time past.
“You will recall that between 1999 and 2007, Atiku and Obasanjo held sway in this country and their records are there for everyone to see,” he said.
The campaign spokesman further remarked that Atiku had the ability to search for talents to develop the country as he did while he was Vice president.
“Atiku is not just talking because he has the ability to search for talents irrespective of where they are from.
“Dr Okonjo Iweala and Professor Chukwuma Soludo who served as Minister of Finance and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, were discovered by Atiku and they made great impact during their tenure.”
On bringing peace back to the South-East, Aniagwu said Atiku had already enshrined peace and unity in his policy document “My Covenant With Nigerians”
“Atiku has made it very clear that he is going to discuss with both state and non-state actors and the crisis in the South-East is basically from non-state actors.
“Some people see them as agitators while others see them as militants but Atiku is not going to be involved in labeling. He will discuss the issues with them and good enough some of the issues are already known to him.
“Issues of under development and marginalization and he says he is going to address them to ensure that every Nigerian irrespective of where you are from is going to be brought on the decision table and once those issues are dealt with, the people agitating would have been assuaged to embrace peace,” he said.
Aniagwu who is also Delta State Commissioner for Information, said the party’s Vice-Presidential Candidate and Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa had addressed similar issues in the state to the extent that the creeks where there used to be agitations is now as peaceful as the upland.
“Atiku besides his pan Nigerian disposition also believed that that formula worked and will be adopted to bring lasting peace across the country, so we are quite convinced that Atiku will take decisions that will make everybody comfortable by forming a government of national unity,” Aniagwu added.
