The Bola Tinubu presidential campaign organisation has flung swiping remarks at Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the crisis rocking the opposition party, ahead of the country’s 2023 general election. 

Mr Tinubu’s campaign says infighting between Mr Abubakar and Rivers governor Nyesom Wike has shown that the PDP is in “disarray” and on its way to electoral defeat.

“The ongoing fratricidal war where a faction of the party being led by the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike is engaging Atiku in a fight to finish has undermined any momentum the PDP candidate had hoped to build. With further loss of confidence in PDP by its own members who can not find any redeeming feature in the fast disappearing party, it is crystal clear that Atiku’s latest bid for the Nigeria’s top job has hit the rocks,” Bayo Onanuga, spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, said on Friday. 

The crisis in the opposition worsened on Thursday as leaders sympathetic to Mr Wike withdrew participation in the party’s presidential campaign. 

Arising from an all-night meeting, the Wike group, in a briefing by Bode George, a former deputy national chairman of the party, insisted that PDP national chairman Iyorchia Ayu must resign for a reconciliation to occur.

On Friday, Mr Wike, who sought the party’s presidential ticket, accused Mr Ayu of favouring Mr Abubakar against him.

He particularly accused Mr Ayu of reaching out to other contestants, especially Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal, to step down from the race to Mr Abubakar. 

The dust raised from the allegation has led to more cracks in the walls of the party’s structure.

Mr Tinubu’s camp condemned Mr Abubakar for the crisis, saying the signs are showing that the former vice president will lose the 2023 election.

“The signs are just too ominous for the Waziri what with the report by the Economic Intelligence Unit predicting another trashing for him in the forthcoming polls.”

“After violating his party’s code for power rotation between the north and south and grabbing the PDP ticket without a modicum of sensibilities about our national ethos, Alhaji Atiku is now faced with the karma of his inordinate ambition,” the APC presidential campaign said. 

Positing further, the campaign said instead of the PDP presidential candidate being a unifier, he is now a “divider-in-chief” in his party.

“A pillar of Atiku’s campaign is the claim of being a unifier and nationalist. That bogus claim has now been discredited, even within his party as the disaffected members cry for justice and inclusivity.

“As a campaign, we can only pity former Vice President Atiku for the self-inflicted injury he invited unto himself.  Chinua Achebe, the very accomplished novelist in one of his classics, Arrow of God, wrote that a man who brought ant-infested faggots into the homestead should not grumble when lizards begin to pay him a visit.”

The APC presidential campaign noted, “Atiku brought this unto himself and we dare say he can kiss his ill-fated presidential bid goodbye. 

“The former Vice President created the crisis for himself, by pushing the fallacy that only a northern candidate can win the presidency for his party, despite the open record that southerners, when they network with their northern compatriots, can also win the election.” 

Peoples Gazette could not reach Mr Atiku’s spokesperson. Also, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP national spokesperson, did not immediately return a request seeking reactions.