Letter To Atiku Abubakar

Dear His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candidate of the PDP,

My attention has been drawn to a video clip of one of your supporters, Mahdi Shehu, self acclaimed Katsina activist, ranting and telling some people who he addressed as Northern Nigerian Christians not to vote for an Igbo candidate because the Igbos considered them as Northerners. He continued that Igbos would not give them land to build church if they ask for and continue to spew hate and lies against Igbos as usual with typical of ignorant people who have never left their home town and gone to live anywhere apart from Katsina, Kaduna and maybe visits to Abuja. He said when there is a problem, Northern Christians are targeted and killed in Igbo land. This, Your Excellency, is how to win Northern Christian to you as the presidential campaign begins.

You must issue statement distancing yourself from this man immediately or you will be seen is his kind of person. "Show me your friend", a popular proverb says, "I will tell you who you are." This video circulating all over social media is being linked to you, your name is being mentioned as people ask who is Mahdi Shehu supporting. Since it is you he is campaigning for, people would believe you stand for what he stands for. That's why I am calling you to issue a statement distancing yourself from such rhetoric, from such characters, from the agenda Mahdi Shehu is promoting.

During the peak of the campaign between Barack Obama and John McCain, Senator McCain was addressing a town hall meeting when some white lady picked up the microphone and started spewing trash about Obama being a Muslim, Arab, terrorist and all that, but McCain cut her in the middle of it. He explained to her that Obama was a nice guy, a patriotic American, and that they just are on different opposing side campaigning for the president. It was something iconic. I watched it live on CNN. Till date I have deep respect for the late Senator McCain and the United States democracy before Donald Trump sprang up with his big mouth and racist chants and almost took the US to the lowest low.

Anybody can win the presidential election next year and that person would spend all their whole time and not do or say anything iconic. You may have done that by coming out to condemn this type of trash talk and hate speeches in the name of campaign and ask all your supporters not to tow that line.

Posterity will remember you for what you do with this today, win or lose, you would have changed so much by coming out to distant yourself from Mahdi Shehu who is no different from white supremacists or some of these hate peddling rascals that we read about like Nazi supporters or anti-semetic goons.