‘Atiku unfair to us, we don’t know him,’ Northern elders deny endorsing PDP candidate

A member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Alhaji Seidu Baba, said on Saturday the forum has not adopted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar, as the consensus candidate in next weekend’s election.

Baba, who made the clarification at a news conference in Abuja, said though, Atiku has been scheming to be endorsed as the North’s sole candidate, NEF has not adopted him.

He dismissed the claims that the NEF’s 10th anniversary was to adopt Atiku as the consensus candidate for the North, the former Vice President has no credentials to be the region’s choice in the election.

Baba said: “There was an attempt to cajole and even force the NEF to adopt him (Atiku) and this shows how desperate he is.

Many people believe though the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, was condemning Northern elders, it is believed, his real target was Atiku Abubakar.

There is no way Atiku can be a Northern candidate because he does not know us and we do not know him.”

“It is believed Atiku got wind of his rejection the reason he failed to show up at the NEF Assembly and could not send any representative.

“Atiku has not been seen as somebody who is close to the North because he has not been fair to us.

“He is somebody with a base outside the North.”