Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has told Nigerians that he would ‘work’ for them and not ‘walk’ if elected president in 2019.
Atiku, who made mockery of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 800-meter walk from Eid praying ground in Daura, Katsina State on Tuesday, said what Nigerians need is a president who can work to create jobs, not the one that will walk to create an illusion.
Buhari, whose 800-meter trek dominated media discourse yesterday, was believed not to be too healthy, and is old to run for presidency next year.
But his spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement, countered the notion, and said “the issue is not how old one is, but how fit he is; how healthy he is. Now that the president has proven his fitness and well-being, to continue in office is a settled matter.”
Atiku, however, responded on his Facebook page yesterday, noting: “I regularly jog more than a mile and exercise, but it will be pedestrian of me to ask Nigerians to vote for me because of that.
“I want my party – the PDP, and Nigerians, to vote for me because I WORK not because I WALK. I will work to create jobs. I won’t walk to create an illusion.”
The post came with a picture of Atiku exercising in a gym.
The former vice president, who left the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is one of the many aspirants seeking to challenge President Buhari in next year’s presidential election on PDP platform.
The thrust of his campaign is job creation, noting that unemployment rate has been on the increase in the last three years.
Nigerians have also been reacting since the presidency statement was published in the media, with some asking the big deal of the president trekking 800 meters, which is “just distance between eight electric poles.”
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