We Respect Atiku, But It’s Time To Step Aside For Younger People Who Share His Vision Of Better Nigeria — Senator Umeh
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress ADC, Senator Victor Umeh has called on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to consider stepping aside from presidential ambitions, saying it is time for younger Nigerians who share his vision of a better country to take the lead.
The senator representing Anambra Central made the remark while speaking on Nigeria’s political future in an interview, noting that although Atiku remains a respected figure, his repeated presidential contests since 2003 point to the need for generational transition.
‘’I listened to your interview, I watched it and listened to his interview with His Excellency the Vice President, and he said this will be the last time he will run for the presidential election in Nigeria. So this one will be his last. So he’s running.
‘’At this stage, having followed the discussions and debates across the nation, what would be the best thing that he should do? I was thinking that he should get to a point where we are thinking about him leaving the stage for younger people to contest, but he says he is contesting. So it means that everything everybody has said in the past months did not resonate with him.
‘’If he holds onto that ground that he cannot build younger ones to succeed him and make him a father, he is supposed to be a father at this stage and at this age—it means that nobody is ready to concede an inch at all.’’
He warned that intense competition within political parties could become counterproductive if consensus is not achieved, adding that internal rivalry could weaken efforts to present a strong opposition against the ruling party.
‘’If they go all out to wrestle, it may get to the point that some people will have bloody noses in the end, and what will suffer will be the party and this effort to bring a viable platform that will contest the election against the ruling party, because if you are not strong, then you are not making any sense.
‘’But I mean, he would argue that the same point you are making applies to the candidate that you support. Because his point is, well, you know, you can step aside for me. If you are into the same sort of consensus and you believe so much that there ought to be a consensus, you step aside and I will take it.
‘’He has been running since 2003. And we respect him—he is a very strong character and a politician with influence.
‘’But there is a time when you will say, “Oh no, I’ve done it. Let me prop other people.” Those people you are saying should also step down for him so that he can go, are coming with ideas that will promote the change Nigerians are looking for.
‘’Yeah, but you could make the same argument. I don’t mean to interrupt you, but you could make the same argument about Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. He ran over and over again, and when 2015 came, there was a consensus decision that he should be the one to take over. A lot of people had ambitions.
‘’You don’t take away people’s ambitions. He had ambition, but he pushed it aside.’’
