ATIKU vs BUHARI

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the All
Progressives Congress as presently constituted, cannot do
without holding an elective party primary to choose its flag
bearer for the 2015 presidential election.
Atiku said this in an interview with journalists, in Abuja, on
Monday. He was reacting to the clamour by the Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari campaign team for an automatic ticket for
the retired general.
In a veiled reference to agitations by Buhari’s supporters for an
automatic ticket, Atiku said such agitations were borne out of a
fear of an elective contest.
According to him, such a campaign can also be a carryover of
the political background of those seeking for such concessions
which is alien to the APC as it is today.
He said, “There is nothing like automatic ticket and those
people who are asking for automatic ticket might have been
coming from a political background that did not know contest
before.
“You know the APC is an amalgamation of a number of political
parties that came together and merged their identities but the
APC as currently constituted cannot escape an elective mode of
primaries.
“There is no zoning, on what basis are you going to say it is
automatic? There is no allocation as they do in the Peoples
Democratic Party, there is nothing like that so, on what basis?”
He implored politicians not to be scared of a political contest
because it helps to strengthen democracy arguing that should he
lose in a fair contest, he would support his party to win the
elections.
In response, the South-East Zonal Publicity Secretary of the
party who belongs to Buhari’s camp, said neither the general
nor his supporters were afraid of a contest.
He, however, said the long term interest of the party was of
utmost importance because there was little or no time left for the
party to deal with the rancour which was likely to follow.
Okechukwu said “It is not a question of being afraid of a
contest. Why we are asking for an automatic ticket for Buhari is
on many grounds. We have seen that the connection between
him, the middle class and the masses of this country is
unparalleled.
“He has a bond with the masses of this country and the middle
class and that kind of bond generated 12 million votes in 2011
in a micro CPC, a small CPC, now we have a broader political
party.
“We need to compliment and supplement that 12 million votes
instead of running the risk of the rancour, the bitterness of
direct or indirect primaries. We have to avoid that rancour.”