By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said his former party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is an ingrate for failing to appreciate his numerous sacrifices to the party, which made the party what it is today.
Reacting to the accusation from the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, where the party said Atiku owes a debt of gratitude to PDP for offering him a platform which saw his emergence as Vice President, Atiku said the party should be thankful to him, explaining that the accusation from the party is a distortion of history.
A statement issued by his Media Aide, Garba Shehu, said “If the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP doesn’t have the knowledge of how the party came into being, then it will be in order that he goes into the archives and read about the history of the party and the roles certain individuals, particularly former Vice President Atiku Abubakar played in building the party.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku Abubakar does not owe to the PDP. Rather it is the PDP that owes a debt of thanks to him. Where were Metuh and his paymasters when the PDP was in its formative stage? If he and his paymasters came as free riders into the party, that shouldn’t mean they have the license to distort history”, the statement said.
The former Vice President who had, in February, defected from PDP to APC, said the outburst, by which his former party has been nursing its wounds, following the exit of its founding fathers, will do no good for the party to reverse the trend of how it is fast losing acceptability by the Nigerian people.
According to him, “Metuh and his co-travellers in the PDP should focus more on improving the lives of citizens, redressing the parlous state of the nation’s economy and stemming the state of insecurity that pervades the land instead of distorting history”.
Speaking further, Atiku said Nigerians need good governance, saying they need to be told how the country can be safe for each and every one.
Nigerians need a political party that will work on the parlous state of the country’s economy and restore financial confidence to Nigerians who work hard to support their families.
Meanwhile, he used the opportunity to commiserate with the government and people of Kaduna, Benue, Katsina and Borno states, over the recent spate of killings in their states.
