A prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lere Olayinka, has advised the party’s former presidential candidate in the previous general elections, Atiku Abubakar, to abandon the idea of contesting the 2027 presidential election.
He asserted that Atiku should give the PDP room to breathe at this point. Olayinka, who was the PDP’s House of Representatives candidate for Ekiti Central Constituency two in the last elections, stated that Atiku’s self-interest and arrogance contributed to the PDP’s current position. He suggested that moving forward, Atiku should step aside and allow new faces to represent the party.
In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss Atiku’s petition challenging President Bola Tinubu’s election, Olayinka expressed amusement at the emotional reactions of some individuals who believed that failing to secure 25 percent of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory was sufficient to annul the election of someone who had won in more than 20 states.
He said, “Rather than bringing everyone together to confront the election, they were more interested in dealing with those who told them the truth, suspending and expelling National Assembly candidates of the party and spending millions of Naira on lawyers to defend the suspension.
“They even had names of those they will show pepper when their President-in-waiting assumes office. Now, eyes don clear.”
While telling those already selling the idea of Atiku contesting again in 2027 as PDP candidate to perish the idea, Olayinka said, “Enough of Atiku is coming every four years. PDP does not belong to any single individual.
“Most importantly, politics should not be about one person’s interest all the time. Someone left the PDP in 2007 when he knew he won’t get the presidential ticket. He came back in 2011 to fight for the ticket in a very toxic manner, he lost.
“Just like 2007, when he saw that he won’t get the PDP ticket in 2015, he instigated crisis in the party and left for the APC. The moment it became clear that he won’t get the APC in 2019, he returned to the PDP.
“Truth is, if he had lost the PDP ticket in 2019, he would have probably moved to another party.
“Now that he has gotten what he wanted two times and failed, the party should be allowed to pick the pieces of its political life and move on with Atiku taking the back seat.”
