By Olu Samuel, Lokoja

Despite the crisis rocking the major opposition party, the People’s Democratic party ( PDP), its presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has been described as having brihhtest chances of winning the election next year

This prediction was made by the party’s former Publicity Secretary Kola Ologbondiyan in lokoja

He hinged his statement on the basis of what he called ” Atiku Abubakar’ s large followers among other contestants for the position of the President of Nigeria

He described Atiku as an embodiment of the hope and aspiration of Nigerians for a new order in the country.

Ologbondiyan, who bared his mind during an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Monday, stressed that Atiku Abubakar stands out as the “Presidential candidate who best understands the nuances of our country and who is endowed with the required experience, capacity, presence of mind as well as the national acceptance needed to move the nation forward.”

The former PDP spokesman who disclosed that he has been touring various parts of the country to gauge the disposition of voters stated that most Nigerians across the divides strongly believe in Atiku Abubakar as the desired leader to salvage and move our nation forward.

“I am not talking of social media or computer-generated indices here. I am talking of organic followership and raw data from the field which will reflect as we go into the elections.

“In the last couple of months, I have visited various parts of the country to gauge the feelings and disposition of Nigerians towards the 2023 Presidential Election.

“I have visited the six geo-political zones and listened to Nigerians, including leaders of thought and especially the youths.

“I can report to you that an overwhelming majority of Nigerians, irrespective of ethnicity, region, religion and age, identify with Atiku Abubakar in confidence that he is the Presidential candidate with the proven capacity, and required nationalistic willpower to unite the nation, revamp our national economy, revive infrastructural decay and guarantee security of lives and property in our country.

“Without prejudice to regional, ethnic and religious sentiment, Nigerians are united in their desire for a leader they can trust; a leader that can unite our nation and not a regional champion; a leader that has the capacity to revamp the economy, a leader who has the patriotic resolve to secure lives and property in the country.

“Already, there is an emerging national consensus that only Atiku Abubakar meets these criteria.

“Nigerians are convinced that Atiku Abubakar is the only candidate among the rank of Presidential aspirants who has the practicable solutions for our challenges as a nation, including issues of national unity, reducing high cost of governance, education, health care, revamping of the economy by providing stimulus for the informal sector among others,” Ologbondiyan stated.

He said Nigerians are rallying around Atiku Abubakar because of his Pan Nigerians stance; his humane and accommodating outlook as well as his track record of performance, especially as the head of the National Economic Team between 1999 and 2007, which represents the golden days of the Nigerian economy and national polity.

Ologbondiyan lamented that the last seven years of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has been replete with tales of terrorism, mass killings, anguish, pains, and untold hardship adding that the nation cannot survive if the APC is allowed to remain in office a day beyond May 29, 2023.

He, therefore, urged all leaders of the PDP to unite and join forces with Nigerians “to end APC’s vicious stranglehold on the nation and usher in a New Order under Atiku Abubakar so as to return our nation to the path of peace, stability and economic prosperity”