Former spokesperson for the People Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s Campaign Organisation, Segun Sowunmi, revealed that his recent visit to Daura, Katsina State, to meet with former President Muhammadu Buhari was driven by the need to understand Buhari’s views on the possibility of a Nigerian president from the South-East.
Sowunmi emphasised that the visit also aimed to engage in discussions about the future of Nigeria, drawing insights from Buhari’s eight years of service.
Despite sharing photos of the visit on social media, Sowunmi faced criticism from some quarters, particularly from individuals he referred to as the “Obidients.”
Expressing disappointment over their reception, Sowunmi clarified that his intention was to broaden the conversation on the South-East presidency and not provoke hostility.
During his visit, Sowunmi highlighted concerns about the South-East’s desire for the presidency, drawing parallels with historical collaborations that led to a Yoruba presidency. He urged Buhari to address the challenges faced by the South-East and emphasised the importance of fostering unity amid regional differences.
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His visit to Daura came barely a few days after another spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign, Daniel Bwala, also visited Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Sowunmi stated, “I have been seeing for some time now what is going on here, something was not adding up then I went to visit the President of whom you know I go to often and I was agonising to him that ‘look Mr, you people can feed yourself but we can’t feed ourselves.
“So the second thing is that the South easterners are quite upset with their desire to be president and I said let me go to him and have a conversation on that, ‘Mr, we collaborated with ourselves to give Yoruba the Presidency when June 12 happened, are we going to watch the South easterners struggle and be angry? Do you people have a way of figuring out this thing…?
“We grew up believing that there was one north that can stabilize the others when they start to quarrel but you’ve lost the whole of the middle belt, people are dying there. And if you’re running the race you’re going to lose the northeast because when the North West stands up for election, the North East backs them, but when the North East stands up for election, you people pretend as if there’s another alternative discussion.
“These were the kind of conversations I went to have with the former President. I would have given you answers [I got from Buhari] but even the Obidients, the Peter Obi people I was trying like let’s broaden the conversation, let’s broaden the discussion they were down to angry with those abuses and I was like ‘what’s going on here?’ If everybody wants to be tribalistic, then I will be tribal too,” he concluded.