Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the clamoring of automatic ticket for some of the leading Presidential candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Speaking on Tuesday with our reporter at his Abuja residence, the former vice-president stated that asking him not to run for the country’s number one seat is like telling him to give up on Nigeria.

The former vice-president described those soliciting for automatic tickets in the 2015 presidential race were scared of contesting in the primaries.

Atiku, who is yet to officially declare his presidential ambition dispelled the idea of zoning, saying; “there is nothing like zoning in the APC.”

It would be recalled that on September 14, 2014, the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) revealed that it would not grant any of its leading presidential aspirants automatic ticket to run for the 2015 general election.  A decision that reportedly did not go down well with the supporters of the party chieftain like former military Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

The party had earlier announced that it would conduct its primary elections in October 2014, to enable them nominate a presidential candidate for the 2015 general election  since they do not believe in zoning system.  On September 5, 2014, Atiku’s media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, revealed to newsmen that the former vice-president would contest the 2015 presidential election on the platform of  the All Progressives Congress (APC).