A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Jackson Ude, has urged all aggrieved members of the party to sheath their swords and accept as “an act of God”, the emergence of Atiku Abubakar and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as presidential and vice-presidential candidates, respectively.

Ude, a former Director of Strategy and Communications during the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, enjoined the stakeholders of the party to “concentrate and channel energy towards saving Nigeria and Nigerians from the years of misrule by the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

He made this known via a statement issued and made available to The Star on Thursday.

The media strategist charged the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, and former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, to accept the outcome of the process that produced the duo of Atiku and Okowa as the party’s standard-bearers.

While assuaging concerns of stakeholders of the inclusive nature of an Atiku-led administration, Ude said the party’s presidential candidate knows the pain of losing and will “be magnanimous in victory”.

He said: “The special convention to pick the presidential candidate of the PDP has come and gone. Those who lost out should accept defeat with maturity. Atiku Abubakar who defeated others to clinch the Presidential ticket of our great party is going to be magnanimous in his victory.

“He is a true leader who understands how it feels to lose. He is going to reach out to all. His victory is not his alone. It is the collective victory of those who contested and lost, those who wished to contest, those who didn’t contest, and all the members of the party including Nigerians who are yearning for his leadership.

“I urge Governor Samuel Ortom to please accept the verdicts at the Convention and the choice of Gov Ifeanyi Okowa as VP. My beloved leader, former Governor Ayo Fayose should also please accept all that has happened. As Christians, they should accept these outcomes as God’s wish. Only God gives victory. God knows why he handed the ticket to Atiku and Okowa.

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“The outcome of the convention and the events leading to the picking of Okowa as running mate are all God’s wishes. If not, Atiku wouldn’t have won the ticket and Okowa wouldn’t have been picked as VP.

“At this time, everyone should be more concerned about how to save Nigeria and Nigerians from the APC. Nigerians are suffering. They can’t wait to have the prices of foodstuffs go down. They can’t wait for the end of insecurity. University students can’t wait to return to school. All these are part of the plans Atiku Abubakar has put together. He alone cannot achieve all these. He needs Wike, Fayose, Ortom, and every other leader of our party to make it happen.

“To defeat APC should be the collective responsibility of all members of the PDP. Our leaders have a lot of roles to ensure this happens. We cannot do that in a divided house. We will have more to lose if we go into the 2023 elections as a divided house.

“No doubt Gov Nyesom Wike is a great leader of our party. His huge contributions to the party would surely not be overlooked. I am sure he is top on the list of those who will play huge roles in salvaging Nigeria in Atiku Abubakar’s-led Government in 2023,” Ude stated.

While quelling feelings of being sidelined, the PDP chieftain said: “There is definitely plenty of key roles for all our leaders. This time calls for closing of ranks, building strategic plans for our victory in 2023, and rescuing Nigerians from the incompetent government of APC. We need all hands on deck.

“We need all our leaders to speak with one voice. Nigerians want better leadership. Nigerians want to see quality leadership. And only PDP has what it takes to make that happen under a united front.”

The Star