Adedeji Doherty, a well-known PDP member, has claimed that if the Nigerian people choose Atiku Abubakar as their leader in 2023, he will be able to resolve the issues that the PDP created while it was in power (1999–2015).
Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Council in Lagos State Chairman Doherty made this announcement as a guest on Monday Channels TV's Sunrise Daily program.
“I believe that the PDP has retraced its steps, we have made mistakes all along the road to making Nigeria great, and it is time we stabilised this country and give PDP another chance to make good its promises,” he stated.
Doherty said that, as head of Nigeria’s economic team, Atiku helped stabilise democracy when the military ruled the country. Atiku served as Vice President of Nigeria from May 1999 until May 2007 under President Olusegun Obasanjo, who assumed power in Nigeria after the military leader Abdulsalami Abubakar stepped down to inaugurate the country’s Fourth Republic.
“You must give the PDP the credence that it was able to stabilise democracy in Nigeria and these two gentlemen (Atiku and Obasanjo) were the pioneer persons that did this job,” he said.
The PDP stalwart said that the All Progressives Congress (APC) doesn’t deserve to win any seat in Lagos in the 2023 general elections because of its “worse than adequate” record.
Doherty argued that the APC “should not even be vying for anything right from the presidential (seat) up to the local government,” with a focus on Lagos State.
Despite being the dominant party from 1999 to 2015, the PDP has failed to win the governorship of Lagos since the start of the Fourth Republic.
Former governor of Nigeria’s Lagos State from 1999 to 2007, Bola Tinubu is a product of the now-defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD). Eventually, the AD transformed into the Action Congress (AC), and Tinubu’s protege, Babatunde Fashola, was re-elected governor for another eight years. Both Akinwunmi Ambode (2015) and Babajide Sanwo-Olu (2019) were elected governor after the AC shifted its support to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Sanwo-Olu is running for re-election in 2023, but Olajide Adediran, aka Jandor, the PDP candidate for governor of Lagos, has his sights set on ending Tinubu’s 24-year reign as the city’s most powerful politician.
There is a three-horse fight for the presidency in 2023, with Tinubu representing the APC, Atiku representing the People’s Democratic Party, and Peter Obi representing the Labour Party.