Kaduna Presidential Rally: Atiku is butterfly thinking itself a bird – Keyamo

Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has described Atiku Abubakar as a butterfly that thinks it is a bird, given his “blistering online attack against the APC (All Progressives Congress), particularly in the North”. The APC is scheduled to flag off its presidential campaign in Kaduna on Saturday. According to Keyamo, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress, ADC, was banking on the bulk of Northern votes to see him through in 2027, knowing that he has no inroads at all into the South.

Therefore, Keyamo said in a statement, Atiku has taken to the “common but cheap tactic” of positioning cameras then get people to tear down the posters of President Bola Tinubu, and then post the videos online. “The other tactic is to disseminate disinformation claiming that any support the President is seen to receive in the North is procured only through the massive deployment of financial resources.

“Hence the fake letter alleging a N2.3 trillion deployment for the Kaduna rally. The intention is to generate a hoopla that will create a groundswell of public opinion that President Tinubu has been ‘massively rejected’ in the North.” Keyamo said given the mood of the country, the South deserves to complete eight years in the presidency. Also, he added, in 2023, Atiku lost across the Middle Belt, all southern states, except Osun State.

Projecting on 2027 votes, Keyamo said with the APC structures in the North backing Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar has seen that his demographic calculation for the 2027 elections regarding northern votes is evaporating. Therefore, he noted, Atiku resorted to desperate tactics. “He knows that even if he wins in some parts of the North and the President comes a close second, the election is as good as over, because those differences would be wiped out by his heavy defeat in the Middle Belt and the South.

“Atiku Abubakar thinks he is the Buhari of 2015, who swept the Northern votes. He thinks that was a display of ethnic support. He fails to realise that his past puts him poles apart from a Muhammadu Buhari,” Keyamo said.