National Interest Party presidential candidate Eunice Atuejide stands down and backs Atiku

NATIONAL Interest Party (NIP) presidential candidate Eunice Atuejide has bowed out of Saturday's elections and asked her supporters to vote for former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Young, urbane, cosmopolitan and very proficient in languages, Ms Atuejide, 40, is a UK-based lawyer, whose candidacy was heralded as bringing a breath of fresh air to the campaigns. Apart from being a young diasporan woman, her campaign was also praised for being online, attracting a large number of educated and cosmopolitan youths.

Up until this morning, Ms Atuejide was one of the presidential candidates set to stand in Saturday's elections but in a surprise development, has decided to stand down and back Alhaji Abubakar, saying he will select a government that will include the best Nigerians from every corner of the country. Speaking in Abuja, she gave five reasons why she was stepping down for Alhaji Abubakar, adding that when she set out to contest for the presidency in 2016, she promised to always put Nigeria first.

Ms Atuejide said:  “I believe strongly that a Nigeria led by Atiku Abubakar will drastically reduce the suffering we have all endured under the President Buhari-led maladministration. I believe we will come out of the bottom pile of all human development indices, particularly the crown of being the poverty capital of the world.

“I believe there will be respect for human life, less nepotism, tribalism, religious fanaticism, insensitivity and outright disregard for the wishes of the Nigerian people. I strongly believe more competent Nigerians will be brought together from different places of origin, religions, creed, gender, age, background etc, to form the Atiku Abubakar-led government.

“I believe he would select that government to include the best Nigerians from every corner of the country. I believe it will be a government of national unity and for all these reasons and many more I cannot state, I enjoin all Nigerians of voting age with permanent voters cards to please join me and all of mine to vote for Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the PDP.

“I make bold to state unequivocally that I stand with Atiku under the PDP this time. I cannot defend PDP for giving us bad leadership from 1999 to 2015, yet I cannot help but blame the All Progressives Congress (APC), for doing a much worse job from 2015 to 2019.

“So my people, having committed to always put Nigeria first, having gotten to know most of the candidates vying for the presidency in 2019 one-on-one, having investigated most of them independently and having seriously considered the inherent dangers in allowing the incompetence of President Buhari to continue, I choose to fight for the benefit of every Nigerian on the side of Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of PDP.”