Former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu has been charged to focus on how to secure votes in his home state for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) first rather than giving false assurances to Atiku Abubakar about winning the 2023 presidency.
The caution was handed down on Wednesday by a group identified as the Northern Youths Movement (NYM) in a statement signed in Abuja by its Chairman, Mallam Ishaya Jato.
Going down memory lane, the group pointed out that even as a sitting governor, Aliyu lost Niger State in previous presidential elections, so he has no moral standing to be giving assurances about electoral victory to another person now that he is even out of office.
It also called on Atiku to get down to work on convincing Nigerians on why they should vote for him as the next leader of the country.
The stand of the group comes as a reaction to the earlier submission by Babangida Aliyu that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar will win Rivers State and the South-South region in the 2023 election.
He stated this during the inauguration of the central planning committee of the PDP Ward 2 Ward 2022 National Conference, boasting that Rivers State and the entire South-South is a historical PDP enclave.
According to the former governor who was represented by the chairman of the media and publicity of the central planning committee, Dr. Golu Timothy, stakeholders are working hard to ensure the PDP sustains past electoral successes.
Babangida said the PDP would win Rivers State despite the rift between the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku, and Governor Nyesom Wike.
But NYM has now stated that such boastful statements and assurances are why Atiku himself has been going about like he has won the 2023 presidential election already.
The group said rather than relying on votes from Rivers State and other South-South States, Babangida Aliyu should strive to deliver Niger State to his party, PDP, for the first time since 2011.
It also called on Atiku to buckle up and prove to Nigerians that he won’t just be on the ballot and then flee to Dubai in the eventuality of losing the 2023 elections.
“Where is the moral standing of the likes of Babangida Aliyu that are giving Atiku false confidence rather than telling him the truth so that he can buckle up and work hard to be able to win?
“It is therefore our plea that people like Babangida Aliyu should leave Atiku alone and let him act in a manner that will show to Nigerians that he is willing to win the election, not just to be on the ballot and as usual, run to Dubai after the election,” the group stated.
