I will support APC presidential candidate if I lose in the primaries - Atiku

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday said he will support whoever emerges as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, if he loses the party’s ticket.

Abubakar said this while addressing APC Enugu State national delegates at the Nike Lake Resort Hotels in Enugu on Tuesday evening.



He also said he will not criticize the other presidential aspirants.

However, Abubakar stressed that he was a better candidate than his rivals.

“Whether I win this primary or not, I will support whoever wins.

“That is why in all my public speeches I will not criticize any candidate,” he said.

He went ahead to explain that the APC presidential aspirants had agreed to support each other.

According to him, “This is an undertaking we made that we will support each other and never criticize one another in public.

“We have to start the change at the leadership level.”

Continuing, Abubakar urged APC members to support their party’s candidates, even when the particular candidate they prefer fails to emerge as the flag bearer.

He argued that good governance is better than selfish gains.

The former vice president said, “Whoever wins the nomination, don’t go anti-party. It is better for you.

“Your life will be better, the life of your family will be better.

“It is better for you to have the government than to remain in opposition because your candidate did not win.

“Good governance is better for you than whatever you can put in your own pocket.”

Abubakar also spoke of the qualities that make him better than his rivals.

He said, “There is no part of this country that I cannot call a home – none of the rest can boast of this quality.

“Besides, none of them have acquired the experience I have acquired politically.

“Even when situations appeared favourable to me personally, I rejected in the interest of this country.

“I have fought many political battles for democracy, the rule of law and the survival of our democratic dispensation.

“I have prepared myself over the years to serve, I have the experience to serve and I want to serve.”

Abubakar, who spoke of his humble beginnings, noted that he was fortunate to go to school on scholarship, while also expressing reservations that the situation was no longer the same in the country.

“I am today a self-fulfilled person, I am not looking for anything.

“The only passion I have is that I will never allow this country to be mis-governed,” Abubakar said.

The presidential hopeful said the Peoples Democratic Party is mis-governing the country.

“Today, the PDP is mis-governing this country to a level I have never seen in my life,” he said, adding that if there was no change in 2015, “PDP will destroy the country and we will be looking for another country because it is too late.”

He donated the sum of N5m to the Enugu State chapter of the APC, as well as another N1m to the chapter’s elders.