Anambra Central Senator, Victor Umeh, has berated the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, over the decision to give the presidency a last shot in the 2027 general election.
NOP NIGERIA reports that Umeh, while fielding questions in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’, said that he expects Atiku to step down for a younger presidential candidate in the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
According to him, Atiku is a respected figure in Nigerian politics, who has been running for the presidency since 2003, stressing that it was time for him to promote younger politicians and become a father.
Umeh further stated that after listening to Atiku’s recent interview, it became clear that what people have been saying over the past months about dropping his presidential ambition did not resonate with him.
He said, “I expected Atiku to step down for younger candidate. Those people he wants to step down are coming with ideas that will promote the change Nigerians are looking for.
“To challenge a president who is not willing to leave, you must be offering Nigerians something different.
“I listened and watched the interview with His Excellency, former Vice President Atiku, and he said this will be the last time he will run for the presidential election in Nigeria.
“I was thinking that it should be getting to a point where we’re thinking about leaving the stage for younger people to contest, but he says he’s contesting.
“So it means that everything everybody has said in the past months did not resonate with him, and if he holds onto that ground, that he cannot build the younger ones to succeed him and make him a father, it means that nobody is ready to concede an inch at all.
“So if they go all out to wrestle, it may get to the point that some people would have a bloody nose in the end, and the thing that will suffer will be the party.”
