The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dumebi Kachikwu, has called on the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party, Peter Obi to work with small parties to stop the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
Mr Kachikwu, in a statement issued on Thursday and titled: “My Closing Argument”, said there is no path to victory for him but that the two leading candidates must collaborate within 24 hours to stop Mr Tinubu from winning Saturday’s election.
The election scheduled for Saturday has about 18 presidential candidates, however, many believe the race is between Messrs Obi, Atiku and Tinubu.
Mr Obi, who served as running mate to Atiku in 2019, decamped to LP in 2022 shortly before the PDP primaries.
While calling for collaboration, Mr Kachikwu noted that the three leading candidates are flawed but they are the available options to Nigerians. In the case of Mr Obi, he noted that the former Anambra State governor was wrong to be visiting churches.
“The Labour Candidate took campaigns to a new low with his church visitations. Have you ever imagined what would happen to our country if Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu made similar visits to mosques,” he said.
He stated that Messrs Tinubu and Atiku have baggage of corruption allegations hanging around their necks.
Mr Kachikwu noted that despite the flaw in the candidates, there is a need to consider the state of affairs in Nigeria, a situation he described as second to the civil war of the 60s.
Mr Kachikwu therefore said Messrs Obi and Atiku must work together not to reward the APC. He noted that none of the candidates can win alone, noting that a vote for LP is for the ruling party.
He added that “we must accept the reality that except Northern Nigeria miraculously comes together in the next 24hrs to throw their support for the PDP candidate, the race looks likely to favour the APC candidate.
“Except the PDP and Labour can reach an agreement in the next 24hrs on how to collaborate to win the elections, any vote for Peter Obi is a vote for Bola Tinubu. PDP and Labour need each other. It is that simple. As true democrats, the leadership of both PDP and Labour must find a way to work with the other smaller parties towards building a formidable coalition that ensures the contest is even.
“Any attempt to go this alone guarantees another four years for the APC,” he said.
The odds, therefore, favour the APC Government to continue in power. How you might ask? It is very simple. The APC structure that brought in Buhari eight years ago still brought him back four years ago even though most Nigerians were united in saying he wouldn’t come back,” he said.
