The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 general elections, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar in a reaction to the endorsement of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) promised to form a Government of National Unity that will be free of cabal.
Former Vice President who stated this while addressing over 45 political parties that are members of CUPP, yesterday in Abuja thanked the group for the ‘historic endorsement’.
Atiku discribed the endorsement as historic because “I believe this is the first time it is being done in this form. You have not taken a wrong decision because the PDP since we formed it in 1998, is a party that believes in national government , the participation of many Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliation.
“We believe as a political party, in national unity and there must be stability before you can do anything, implement your economic programme, before you can implement your healthcare programme. Right from the beginning, I have been a member of the PDP and I know we have always believe in a government of national unity. It takes a long time for a country as diverse as Nigeria to be united and stable before we start talking about which ethnic group we come from or which religion we practice, he said.
The PDP Presidential candidate also added that, “government of national unity should be essential and the practised it even when there was no conference even when we won elections on our own, we brought in opposition parties.
Atiku who said his commited himself to the continuation of the doctrine, noted that ” we have a lot of work to do together. We should not go back and rest and say we have endorsed. We have to deliberately take certain actions to make sure that we achieve our objectives.
He assured that, “as long as we are having a government, there will not be a cabal. We need a public presentation of this decision so that Nigerians will be further enlightened , so that every nook and crannies of this country can be informed.
In his remarks, Chairman of CUPP, former Governor of Osun state, Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola also disclosed that Atiku Abubakar was endorsed by all party that are members of the coalition because of is national acceptability.
He also added that, other factor considered include ” access to financial resources, competitiveness of the candidate party, capacity to minitor the election in all the 120, 000 polling units in the country and the competent, capacity capability and credibility of the candidate.
“After painstaking accessment of what we have across all the CUPP parties, after processing the candidates capability using these criteria the steering committee here by submit that former vice president and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar is the best and his party is the most reliable of all options before us, he said.
According to him, considering all these criteria, the CUPP “therefore choose him as the CUPP candidate for the 2019 Presidential election.
