, Osita Okechukwu, has accused former Vice President Atiku){kind=link}
A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has accused former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of promoting anti-democratic ideals.
Okechukwu, while speaking with journalists in Abuja on Friday, faulted Atiku’s remarks during an interview with BBC Hausa Service where he said, “if a younger candidate emerges through a competitive primary election, he would support and mentor such a person.”
The APC chieftain argued that Atiku’s preference for what he called “competitive primary” over Nigeria’s long-standing rotation and zoning arrangement undermines one of the country’s most important democratic conventions.
He maintained that zoning has remained a vital glue holding the Fourth Republic together since 1999, and noted that Atiku himself had previously benefited from it.
Okechukwu recalled that Atiku was a direct beneficiary of zoning and rotation but later turned against it in 2014, when he clinched the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket in an election where no southern aspirant contested.
According to him, promoting what he described as a “dollarised primary” under the guise of democracy is nothing short of anti-democratic behaviour.
Okechukwu said: “Among the cardinal tenets of democracy, the first is the unity of our dear fatherland, and the second is the conduct of free and fair elections.
“Atiku is now waving expensive, monetised, and exclusionary primaries as his banner of democracy, while downplaying the very convention that guarantees equity, inclusion, and stability in our plural society.”
He added that Atiku’s comments only reinforced concerns that his quest for power is not about deepening democratic institutions but about weakening the principles that have sustained the Nigerian federation.