Former Vice President and Presidential hopeful of the Peoples Democratic Governor, PDP, Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday paid a consultative visit to Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike in Rivers State.
Tag: atiku
-
Atiku hails release of #DapchiGirls
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has welcomed the release of some of the schoolgirls freed by Boko Haram on Wednesday morning four weeks after they were kidnapped from their school in Dapchi, Yobe State.
In a press statement released by his media office in Abuja on Wednesday, Atiku said he was gladdened by the return of the girls and expressed joy that some families who had been heartbroken will now have the tears wiped from their faces, as will other Nigerians who were distressed by the kidnappings.
“This is a moment of joy for all of us as a nation,” he said. “We may not all be in Dapchi at the moment but we are all celebrating with the families, the community and the entire Yobe State.”
Atiku, however, noted that the grief of the parents whose daughters weren’t returned would probably take on a new and more tormenting dimension, as they continue to wait and pray for their safe return.
“May God continue to strengthen and give them hope,” he said.
According to the statement, the former Vice President believes that while the events of today are fresh in our heads, a call for a more permanent solution to the problem of kidnapping of girls from schools should be found.
He proposed several ideas including the immediate reassignment of 150,000 Nigerian police personnel to secure schools in volatile areas of the northeast. In addition, the government should look at redesigning schools to make them more secure from attack including the addition of safe rooms.
“We cannot continue to allow our daughters to be used as instruments of negotiation, subject to capture and release at the whim of any group,” he said.
“For the sake of our youth who embody the best of our tomorrow, we must confront this Frankenstein monster. Working together as a Nation we can and must bring an end to this. Not a day must be wasted in finding solutions. We must make it safe so our girls and women in every part of the country can study and flourish in peace”.
-
Atiku hails directive ordering withdrawal of police orderlies from VIPs
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday applauded the decision by the Inspector General of Police to withdraw its personnel from guarding important personalities and organisations in Nigeria.
The Inspector-General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, on Monday announced the withdrawal of the officers said to number about 150,000.
Speaking on the decision through a statement from his media office signed by Paul Ibe, Mr. Abubakar said it is obvious that Nigeria has a security emergency.
The statement reads in full: “That Nigeria has a security emergency cannot be overstated. Our security forces are overstretched. We do not have enough military and paramilitary forces to provide security for the peace loving people of Nigeria which is why the recent Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State kidnapping occurred. Their school was left unguarded.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, had on Saturday, March 10, 2018 counselled for the reassigning of the 150,000 policemen guarding private citizens to core police duties.
Asked by THISDAY on Saturday what he would do different to prevent abduction like Dapchi, the Waziri Adamawa had responded thus: “Recently, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Chief Mike Okiro, revealed that 150,000 policemen are guarding various elites and those we know as ‘big men’. If I had my way, I would have recalled all of those 150,000 policemen who are not performing core police duties and send them to provide security for every school in the North-East region. That to me would be a better use of their time and services. We already know that Boko Haram has an agenda to cripple Western education in Nigeria. So how could we have left those schools unguarded? Why should the police be guarding VIPs who can afford personal guards and leave vulnerable girls unguarded? We are spending billions of Naira trying to encourage girls to go to school only to allow them be abducted by terrorists.”
Atiku Abubakar welcomes the reported new policy of reassigning these 150,000 policemen from guarding VIPs to regular police duties especially as it relates to the much-needed protection of schools in the Northeast and other troubled zones.
As Kenneth Blanchard said, none of us is as smart as all of us. The Waziri Adamawa continues to call on the Buhari government to be open to solutions from well meaning Nigerians and friends of Nigeria so we can navigate this nation away from the precipice,” the statement said.
-
How jobs, stronger economy can unite Nigerians, stem sectarian strife – Atiku
By Atiku Abubakar
Over the last few months, our nation has had to reopen a fresh chapter in the conversation on internal security, peace and unity in the wake of renewed violence in the North Central and North East of our country. These sad episodes have not only led to questions by young Nigerians (and Nigerians as a whole) around the effectiveness of our security structure, but also questions about the integrity of Nigeria’s unity.
Unity is not something we just have because we are Nigerians, or because someone like me or any other weighs in asking Nigerians to be united. Unity is something we must deliberately work for. In order to unite Nigeria, me must consciously define the fundamentals of our nationhood, to ensure everyone feels safe, secure and carried along.
To build a truly united nation, we must address the issues which lead to insecurity at their roots. We must pay more than lip service to “poverty alleviation”, and truly get Nigerians working again. A person who has a job has less time for ethnic bickering.
Let truth be told, the people in the upper classes of our country rarely engage with each other with ethnicity in mind. When people have food to eat, they are less suspicious of each other and begin to focus on creating value. People who have food to eat and good homes to live in do not worry about the ethnicity of their business partners or co-workers. They are more worried about what value their business partners bring, rather than where those partners come from.
There is this joke which I get to hear often — when a small car hits another small car, the drivers come out to shout, because they don’t know which of them has money to fix the damage, but when two big cars hit themselves, the big men come out, shake hands and exchange cards. As people get better quality of life, they begin to place more value on life and wellbeing of others. This obviously means that if our people have better lives all-round, there will be fewer suspicion and confrontations between groups of people.
Now let me share a bit of experience with building unity. I come from Adamawa State, made up of almost an equal number of Christians and Muslims, Fulani and disparate people’s collectively called Chamba. In many ways, Adamawa is like Nigeria. I grew up as a Fulani boy. My grandmother and uncle were tradespeople, so it was not uncommon to have a lot of Christians and people of different ethnicities and religions in our home. Our neighbours were Christian and Muslim, so I grew up really not exposed to tribalism until I went to secondary school. There were two sociopolitical organizations then, one for Chamba people and the other for Fulani. I was a popular student, so was promptly invited to join the Fulani organization.
But privately I had been speaking with both my Fulani and Chamba friends about unifying both organizations before the invitation came, so it was difficult for me to go and join the Fulani organization. I publicly refused to join the organization, and instead worked with both sides to create the Adamawa Students Union, an umbrella union which collapsed both the Chamba and Fulani organizations into one.
This was the inspiration which would later lead to the creation of the Adamawa Peace Initiative, a non-governmental organization which brings together all the stakeholders in our state to work for peaceful coexistence. The API brings together scholars, clerics, youth, market women, businesspeople (many of whom are of Igbo extraction), representatives of security organizations, and co-chaired by Muslim and Christian leaders. This organization helps defuse conflicts in Adamawa communities, organizes entrepreneurship classes and sports events for young people, as well as coordinates relief projects whenever and wherever the need arises in Adamawa. API was the first organization to coordinate the absorption of internal displaced people from around the North East into Yola and surrounding towns.
A few years ago, the API heard rumours that certain groups were spreading fake news that another group was planning attacks on the other from out of state. The organization quickly got together, assembled both Christian and Muslim leaders to address the issue. That Friday, the imams around the state had been briefed to speak about the issue to reduce tension, while the Christian churches did same on Sunday. Crisis was averted. This has been the template with which API has addressed issues since then.
The experience here shows that building peace and unity goes beyond goodwill messages. We should not be in denial about the weaknesses in our communities. We must actively pursue peace and unity by coordinating grassroots organizations. Fake news did not begin on the internet — rumours have led to unfortunate incidents of bloodshed in our communities around Nigeria. Inter-group grassroots organizations can provide a trustworthy partner in keeping everyone assured of their safety.
But the tasks of NGOs like API are only secondary. The primary needs of Nigerian communities are jobs and opportunities to build sustainable ventures. Our economy needs to grow to accommodate the population which has been growing faster than our GDP.
I was having a conversation about Nigeria’s population growth rate, and a friend of mine joked that I am probably not the right person to have this conversation with, seeing as I have a really large family. This is true in many ways. Many people in my generation grew up in large families, it was all we knew, but must we continue in what we knew, in the face of new information and reality? It is also often the case that the elite families can afford to train their children, so large families become a resource, but the reverse is the case with poorer families. It is easy to see how income inequality will grow even wider as our population grows further, especially in rural communities.
For the avoidance of doubt, there’s nothing wrong with huge population. It can indeed be an asset if properly harnessed, especially in situations where the citizens are exposed to good education and skills, ensuring that they get a head start in life, like it is the case with China.
The challenge however is where population growth far outstrips GDP growth as is currently the case with our country. In this instance population becomes a liability by default.
It is important that we grow our economy at a rate to cope with our population growth. Our current population growth of 3 per cent when compared with our GDP growth of 1 per cent in 2017 and the expected 2.5 per cent in 2018, will see us ending up with a lower per capita income and becoming even poorer at the end of 2018. Our GDP growth needs to outpace our population growth to make the latter an asset and not a liability.
As a father (and one with a large family) on one hand and a promoter of education on the other, I will counsel that on a scale of balance that parents have children that they can train to acquire good education and skills that will give them a head start in life and make them productive members of society.
An alumnus of American University of Nigeria, Mr. Muhammed Zanna is a daily reminder of the nexus between education and job creation. The young man could not wait to graduate before venturing into the entrepreneurial world. He bought over a business that had served as a practical for their business management class. Today, the young man runs a personal business, a testimony that education can indeed be a tool for creating small businesses.
The Zanna experience, incubated at AUN in Yola, is an apt reminder that when our young people are taught how to create small businesses, their creative energies are unleashed to the betterment of the individual, our economy and society.
-
2019: With Atiku, Gana, others we’ll deliver real change to Nigerians – SDP
A chieftain of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Dr Olu Agunloye, on Wednesday said the party remained the only viable alternative to deliver real change to Nigerians.
Agunloye, a former minister, made the statement in a telephone interview with newsmen in Lagos.
He said the party has the programmes to move the country forward, with its focus on delivering development through good governance in the country.
The former minister said it was not by accident, but the belief in the SDP’s capacity to deliver, that some chieftains of other political parties defected to the party recently.
He described as a good development the defection of two former ministers, Prof. Tunde Adeniran and Prof. Jerry Gana, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the SDP.
Agunloye, who was the SDP candidate in the November 2016 governorship election in Ondo, described the duo as accomplished Nigerians.
He said their coming would add value to the party.
Agunloye, however, said the party had received other prominent politicians into its fold, while so many others had indicated interest to join the party.
“The coming of Prof. Adeniran and Prof. Gana is a good development for the party. These are accomplished Nigerians and they would surely add value.
“But these two personalities are not the only prominent people that have joined the party.
“Just two days ago, a governorhip aspirant of the All Progressives Party (APC) in Adamawa joined the party with about 16,000 of his supporters.
“So many people have also indicated interest to join the party from across other political parties, we are expecting more people soon,” he said.
Agunloye, however, said the party would welcome people who were ready to align with the its vision to reposition the country and not people who were coming just to seek tickets for their aspirations.
On the speculations that SDP was in talks with former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to join it, Agunloye said he had no knowledge of the moves.
He, however, said Atiku, just like other Nigerians, was free and welcome to join the party.
“Atiku is free to join our party. He is welcome to join us. I worked with him at the cabinet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and he is a man I respect a lot,” he said.
Agunloye said the party had commenced registration for interested Nigerians across the country ahead of the 2019 elections.
He said Nigerians could identify with the vision of SDP by registering online and through other convenient mediums across the country.
-
Killings: I’m embarrassed by continuous waste of lives in Nigeria – Atiku
Former Vice President and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the latest sectarian crisis, which claimed the life of the Adamawa State PDP spokesperson, Sam Zadock and 12 other victims.
Mr. Abubakar also condemned similar crisis in Kaduna and other places that have led to avoidable loss of lives in the country.
The former vice president said he was deeply embarrassed and utterly shocked by the continuing cycle of violence, revenge and counter revenge by ethnic warriors and militias in the country that has led to needless waste of precious human lives.
He noted that the reckless disregard for the sanctity of life is not only disturbing, but it also shows the failure of local leaders to manage differences and grievances, adding that “bloodshed cannot be the solution to those grievances.”
He explained that our common humanity is greater than our ethnic and religious differences and that the frequent resort to violence is inconsistent with the teachings of our religions about the sanctity of life.
Mr. Abubakar stressed that no society can achieve peace and happiness when love is replaced with violent and destructive hate and bigotry.
The former vice president called for cool headed approach to conflict resolutions instead of incitements to violence by ethnic and religious leaders, adding that those who encourage the destruction of life are unfit to lead others.
He also called for increased vigilance and prompt response to early signs of developing violence or conflicts in order to nip such crises in the bud.
He explained that the deployment of troops after lives have been lost “is tantamount to locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.”
While praising the efforts of security personnel and their sacrifices, he called for improved strategies and the use human intelligence to foil mass murderers before they strike.
He condoled with the Zadock family, families of the other deceased and the Adamawa PDP over the loss of their loved ones. -
2019: The men who want Muhammadu Buhari’s job
By Mideno Bayagbon
As at the last count, no woman has expressed intention to be president of Nigeria come 2019. It is still a man’s world. So far, nine men are known to be eyeing the seat of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 2019.The field is still open though for more to come seeking their parties’ nomination for the race proper.And largely too some of these ambitions are laced with bareface intrigues,implicitly running with the hare and hunting with hound.
ATIKU ABUBAKAR:
Top of the list as at today is former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, who has been in the wings, fuelling his ambition to be Nigeria’s president. Considered to be one of the most prepared to be president, Atiku Abubakar is perhaps the only one among the top eight contenders who has a ready blueprint, who has been in the saddle, who has a wide network of political allies, funding ability, and other prerequisites working for him. A little confession: I was a member of a think tank he set up more than 10 years ago to design a cross sectoral roadmap on how to jump start the Nigerian economy and polity. Each sector of Nigeria’s political economy had experts sit down and design strategic thrusts. At the end of the exercise, if he had become president in 2007, Atiku Abubakar, a man who specialises in tapping the best brains to man specific duties, would have hit the ground running from day one.But his perceived impatience in the years leading to the 2003 re-election of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, to whom he was deputy, has been his major undoing. Recall that but for the deft strategic, and some say, cunning military strategies deployed by the former military leader, Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar would have easily supplanted his boss. The former Vice President had successfully sold what he called the Mandela option, in which he wanted President Obasanjo to do just a term and hand over to him, to most Governors of the day. The war of attrition that followed has left seemingly indelible bruises from which the Adamawa political chieftain has yet to recover.
A mountain called Olusegun Obasanjo has been Atiku’s albatross. So has been the smear campaign which painted him as a very corrupt politician, a stigma that has stuck to him despite no indictment, or corruption charges never been brought against him in any Nigerian court. There are, however, indications that the United States government has a dossier on him, allegedly supplied by the EFCC under Ribadu, then working for Obasanjo. Infact, one of Atiku’s wives, Jennifer, had to relocate from the US to Dubai in the heat of the investigations on Atiku. I am unable to confirm if the US has ever since then granted the former vice president an entry visa.
He has been a political orphan more or less since then. For a man who inherited the awesome Shehu Musa Yar’Adua political machinery, a man deeply connected and seemingly liked nationwide, his baggage is daunting; and his seeming political prostitution, of changing political base ever so often, are major obstacles which stand against his ambition to be the candidate of the PDP in the coming elections.AMINU TAMBUWAL:
A deeply ambitious man ready to break every necessary egg to make his political omelette, Aminu Tambuwal first climbed the national political limelight when he schemed, successfully, against his then political party, PDP, under whose auspices he aspired and got elected to the House of Representatives. Along with Emeka Ihedioha, they successfully imposed themselves as Speaker and Deputy Speaker against their party nominated South West candidate, Mulikat Akande. In the peculiar PDP zoning formula, the Southwest was to produce the Speaker of the House, the north, Senate President; while Jonathan reigned as president. Geared on by disgruntled political leaders in the north and through alliance with opposition members in the house, and adroitly with the Jagaban of Southwest politics, Bola Tinubu, who was then also building himself as the new leader of the southwest, and of opposition, they rubbished Jonathan, painting him as an ineffectual president, a tag he never lived down until he was defeated by Buhari in 2015.
Seen then as the embodiment of the north’s angst against Jonathan, who they never wanted to succeed the demised President Umaru Yar’Adua, it was not a surprise that he was one of the arrowheads of the rebels who dumped the PDP for APC.
Cunning, amiable, humble and very strategic, Tambuwal has been plotting a presidential dream for the past eight years. To his credit, he had wanted to contest for the presidency in 2015 but was prevailed upon by political leaders in the north to tamper his ambition and allow the then very popular Muhammadu Buhari to give the north the opportunity of wrestling back the presidency. He grudgingly accepted the offer to be governor of Sokoto. He, however, didn’t drop his ambition.
That is why it was no surprise that though he won election as an APC governor, he formed an early alliance with PDP’s Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State with an eye on a presidential run in 2019. It has been clear to him that with Buhari in the saddle as president, he stands no chance in the APC of getting the presidential ticket for the 2019 race. So he became amoebic: APC by day, and PDP by night. He is the major candidate of the Nyesom Wike wing of the PDP: a major force that installed the party chairman, Uche Secondus. That Tambuwal has not defected to the PDP openly is another of his strategic but calculated moves. His camp has adopted the “wait and see” attitude before taking a plunge for the PDP. They are waiting to see what will become of the heavy pressure on President Buhari not to re-contest the presidency. Will Buhari bow? The Tambuwal group believes strongly that he stands a good chance of succeeding Buhari, should that happen. So they wait.
EL RUFAI:
Also waiting in the wings is Kaduna State governor, Nasir El Rufai. No one’s ambition to succeed President Buhari is as secretly open as that of Governor El Rufai. But he pretends to being an ostrich, with head seemingly heavily buried in the sand in the quest to make President Buhari not just to contest but win the presidential race in 2019. Observers believe El Rufai is being clever by a half. True, he will be one of the major inheritors should Buhari decides not to re-contest the presidency. Deep down, El Rufai is also preparing, just incase. For him, like Tambuwal, Buhari not contesting for a second term is his best chance for the presidency. For with the peculiarities of our politics, should Buhari win the 2019 elections, that will effectively delay his and Tambuwal’s aspiration by between eight to sixteen years.El Rufai’s presidential ambition predates Tambuwal’s. In league with Ribadu, they almost railroaded then President Obasanjo into handing the presidential ticket to him for the 2007 elections. In a bid to actualise this aim, El Rufai and Ribadu connived to destroy the ambitions of most of the contenders and clear favourites for the presidency in Obasanjos second term. They easily put paid to the aspirations of Dr Peter Odili, Donald Duke, Atiku Abubakar and a host of others. In his widely acknowledged book: The Accidental Public Servant, El Rufai did not hide his disappointment at not being handed the presidency by Obasanjo whom he had typically pandered to in hope of taking over from him. Watching him now, it appears he has adopted the same tactics as a similar scenario is playing out.Nevertheless, he has the uphill task of managing his mindset and his nonpolitical temperament . His suspension by a faction of the Kaduna State APC, demolition of the faction’s secretariat and disposition to the Southern Kaduna affair are in view.
BUKOLA SARAKI
The senate president has never hidden his desire to vie for the presidency of the country. Troubled on all sides in the APC, most observers believe it is only a matter of time before he dumps the APC and likely jump ship to the PDP from whence he came.
Stubborn, strategic and wealthy, the current “owner’ of Kwara politics has his eyes firmly on contesting the presidency. His ambition is buoyed by the fact that despite all efforts to remove him from the exalted senate presidency which he virtually hijacked for himself, he has remained unshaken.
The only drawback is that most of his allies with whom he crossed over to the APC, especially people like Rotimi Amaechi with whom he used to enjoy the best of chummy relationships, have since abandoned him, preferring to anchor their political fate on President Muhammadu Buhari.
On the counter, however, a majority of senators still stand behind him.This is a clear indication, observers say, that should he throw his hat into the ring, his campaign will be one of the most formidable. This perhaps explains why the powers that be are using all available arsenals at their disposal to try to cage him, though unsuccessfully till date. But whether he will survive all the court cases ranged against him is yet to be determined.
SULE LAMIDO
Former foreign minister and governor, Sule Lamido, is seen as one of the brightest hopes of the north to ascend the presidency. He is also an Obasanjo protege. Indeed, he is one of the three main contenders being positioned by the Obasanjo Group to tackle President Buhari in next year’s election. Tall, urbane and well spoken of, Sule Lamido, one of the original conspirators against President Goodluck Jonathan, but refused to go along with the five other governors to join the APC, preferring to remain in the PDP. A man of the people, schooled in the talakawa politics of the late legend, Alhaji Aminu Kano, he is very popular in Kano where he resides.
Lamido while opening his presidential Campaign office in Birnin kudu area of Jigawa recently vowed: “There is no soul on earth that can stop the will of Allah if He desired that I should be President of this country no matter the intimidation or harassment through court persecution, I shall certainly be.” This is apparently in response to the fact the Buhari government has been relentless in a tussle of sorts with him. In fact, the EFCC has been on his neck charging him and his two children to court on corruption charges.RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO:
Two term governor of Kano State, former defence minister and now senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, almost beat the then General Muhammadu Buhari for the APC presidential ticket during the primaries. With a strong base in Kano and friends across the country, Kwankwaso is in the hustling to be the presidential candidate of either the PDP or APC in the coming presidential elections. Nevertheless, the same forces which thwarted his ambition in 2014 have enlarged and gathered more muscles. More than just his old friend, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and Ahmed Bola Tinubu who had to use all within their power to sway delegates who Kwankwaso had mobilised to ensure his victory, from their charted path, he faces a more formidable opponents today.
A taste of that has been his lot since he lost the ticket. His protege and former deputy now governor of Kano State, has fully become his most unbelievable traducer! He is making Kwankwaso’s home base his most trident opposition. The Kwankwasiya political machinery which Kwankwaso built to horn his political ambition is today in tatters, no thanks to the unseen hands of Aso Rock. Unforgiving and still seething with anger, Aso Rock has done all within the power circle there to decimate the Kwankwaso political empire.
As I noted elsewhere, the fear of a Kwankwaso’s presidential bid sends jitters down the spine of the Buhari inner caucus team. It is this same team close to Aso Rock, who accuse him of disloyalty and of not cooperating with the Buhari administration since he was defeated at the Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos during the APC primaries. This is the same team that has fomented trouble for him with the party structure and even in his home state, Kano. They have not forgotten that but for the war chest raised by Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi, Kwankwaso could have easily defeated Buhari for the candidacy.
But that is also a plus for Kwankwaso, it has made him one of the courted brides in some groups that want to see the end of the seemingly ineffectual Buhari regime. Already, in the PDP, in the Obasanjo instigated group and in National Intervention Movement, he enjoys some level of support.IBRAHIM HASSAN DANKWAMBO
Former Accountant General of the Federation and current governor of Gombe State, the youthful Ibrahim Dankwambo is perhaps the aspirant with the longest hold on the top echelon of the People Democratic Party. To his credit, controversial preacher and Catholic priest, founder of the adoration ministry, the Rev Fr. Mbaka is perhaps the first person to give public voice to the aspiration of the two term governor. The Catholic priest early in the year, while lambasting the Buhari regime, claimed that God has anointed the Gombe governor as possibly the next president of Nigeria. Speaking glowingly of his achievements in Gombe, the radical Catholic Reverend Father asked Nigerians to look towards Dankwambo for the next leadership of the country. But a coalition of Gombe State indigenes soon came out to laugh at the claim that Dankwambo has performed near magic in the development of the Gombe state. Led by Jibrin Muhammed, the coalition said Dankwambo’s regime has been an unmitigated disaster and hence he is unfit to govern Nigeria.
Nevertheless, Alhaji Dankwambo, from close watch of his activities in the past three years, has never stopped canvassing support for his ambition across the country. Infact, apart from Fayose and Nyesom Wike, he was one of the pillars of the PDP during its troubling factional days. But insiders in the party are not too happy with what some of them consider the accountant’s tightfistedness. He is said not to have contributed much to the funding and running off the party,hence they consider his ambition as out of place. Not relenting, he his hoping on the support of his fellow PDP governors to see his ambition through.
AHMED MAIKAIFI, erstwhile interim chairman of the PDP is perhaps the leading aspirant in the party today. PDP chieftains spoken to believe that the former governor utilised his tenure as interim chairman of the party to mobilise a large following behind his desire to be candidate of the PDP in the 2019 presidential elections. He is said to be the candidate to beat in the party. The only seeming obstacle to his ambition appears to be the Wike led group who are actively working for the aspiration of the Sokoto State governor, Tambuwal. His health is also a cause of concern.
Though it is too early now to give an assertive assessment of the strengths of each of these aspirants and who will likely emerge to contest against President Buhari, it is nevertheless clear that as the days go by, eruptions and implosions will be the order of the day in the two main parties. Obasanjo inspired Third Force and all the other emerging political tendencies will eventually strengthen some of these candidates, while most of them will kiss the dust.
-
Nigeria’s exit from recession doubtful – Atiku
…harps on the need for restructuring
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has said Nigeria’s claim on recession exit was doubtful especially going by the current economic realities in the country. on Friday said it was doubtful whether Nigeria has indeed exited recession.
Abubakar made this known in his keynote address while picking the Silverbird’s 2017 man of the year award in Lagos Friday.
“Last year, we celebrated the fact that we exited our first recession in 25 years. To me, that celebration was premature.
“After contracting for five consecutive quarters, Nigeria came out of recession in the second quarter of 2017 with a GDP growth rate of 0.55 per cent. In the third quarter, we fared better with 1.40 per cent.
“While this looks somewhat like we exited the recession, the reality is that when you factor in our population growth rate of 2.3 per cent, which is one of the highest in the world, have we really exited a recession? Technically, yes, but in reality, it is doubtful.”
The former vice president remarked that Nigeria is going through a lot of challenges in the area of unity, economy and security.
“These challenges are actually symptoms. They are not the ailment. And as any doctor will tell you, you cannot get genuine long-lasting relief if you treat symptoms. You have to target and treat the root cause of the disease.
“What is happening in Nigeria is that as a nation, we are caught up in a modern-day Malthusian Trap. For years, our population has been growing faster than our Gross Domestic Product, bringing us to a point where we have an ever-increasing population competing for resources that are not keeping pace with population growth.
“It may sound simplistic, but if Nigeria can assemble a leadership focused on getting us out of this Malthusian Trap by gradually reversing the trend where population growth exceeds GDP growth, many of these challenges we are currently facing will slowly but surely fade away,”
In February 2018, he said, Nigeria has just overtaken India as the world’s capital of extreme poverty according to the World Poverty Clock. He argued that there are more extremely poor people in Nigeria than there are in India, a country that has six times Nigeria’s population.
“When people do not have jobs and the means to start a business are beyond their reach, they are incrementally much more likely to engage in criminal behaviours like terrorism, kidnapping, militancy and armed robbery,” he noted.
“According to the African Development Bank, in 2017, 18 African countries grew their Gross Domestic Product above 5%. Nigeria, which was number one in 2014, was not amongst these nations. We must figure out what has happened in the intervening years between 2014 and 2018 and fix what went wrong.
“What happened to brilliant initiatives like the YouWIN programme which gave Nigerian youths the training and funding to start their own businesses?”
THE NEED TO RESTRUCTURE
The former vice president also argued that Nigeria needs to be restructured, in order to fix “Nigeria’s broken systems and not just a campaign gimmick that we fish out of our magic hats and deny after we have gotten what we want.”
“Let me say this: The Restructuring that I, Atiku Abubakar, envisions, will see no state receive less money from the federation account than it currently does. I hope that will ease the anxieties of some who oppose restructuring. Restructuring will not cheat you. It will free you.
“When I was in government, we reduced recurrent expenditure by introducing the monetisation policy and by privatising many government enterprises, especially those that were consuming resources without generating revenue. Those policies have been bastardized today and we have seen a ballooning of our recurrent expenditure and shrinkage of our capital expenditure. We must return to the basics.”
Mr. Atiku noted that the nation cannot spend 70 per cent of its budget on recurrent expenditure at a time Nigeria has more unemployed or underemployed people than the entire population of the Republic of Cameroon.
He said, “Many of you in the audience and those of you watching from home may be surprised to know that when I was a teenager, the Saudi Royal Family came to Nigeria for medical tourism and precisely to the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
“Can you imagine how I feel that now that I am an adult, Nigerians, and especially our leaders, are Africa’s number one medical tourists.
“We have to enact laws to prevent leaders from diverting public funds from the public health sector to the treatment of the elite in the best hospitals abroad. If you can afford it from your own private resources, then pay for it. But do not make the tax payer pay for it.
“We are in critical times, and as I conclude, I want to urge a paradigm shift in Nigeria. Our elite are treated in Europe. Big Brother Naija is being broadcast from South Africa and Nike is unveiling our FIFA World Cup Jersey in London. Is this the extent to which we have outsourced Nigeria? As far as I am concerned, if it concerns Nigeria, it must be done in Nigeria, not abroad. Not abroad.”
On the security around the country, the former vice president said he feels the pain of the people of Borno, Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Kaduna and now Zamfara, saying it is time to end the killings.
“I feel your pains on the recent deaths you have suffered and the time has come for all Nigerians to say together, no more! These senseless killings must end!” he said.
-
2019: Little Doubt That Atiku is Ready, By Lami Ladan
Permit me to add my petite voice to the euphoric voices already clamouring for Atiku Abubakar’s candidacy in the upcoming 2019 general election. And rightly so!
A poorly-handled search for a presidential flag bearer by a discordance of characters over the years, has led the nation to an unfocused and unmitigated democratic debacle.
Many Nigerians have ignored the essence of our failing egalitarianism. We must acknowledge that we are the instigators of our bad leadership, since we have accepted and allowed mediocrity to shine over merit – as if it is normal – and naturally, we are left with no one to be blamed but ‘we, the people’.
We have been constantly reminded by the political hegemony that they know what our problems are and that they have the solutions, but they have never revealed how the solutions they proffer will fix the pervasive malady and incompetence of Nigeria’s leadership. It is in this vein that I have decided to help amplify the calls for the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to be given a chance.
I make bold to say that each time he threw his hat into the political ring to contest for the highest political office in the land, he had done so fully prepared and armed with a manifesto detailing his policies, vis-a-vis the implementation strategies from experts coming together from different strata of our economic, security and social endeavours – need I say, he has the intellectual capacity to select persons who can execute these tasks – even to the admiration of his political opponents. Evidently, his philanthropic lifestyle, his chains of businesses across Nigeria with thousands of employees have lent credence to the purposeful leadership he is equipped to provide.
One must also salute the boldness of those individuals and group of persons, who have shown maturity of political awareness as they speak up in support of Atiku Abubakar’s candidacy for the 2019 presidential election.
Nigeria, due to its heterogeneous nature, is not a nation that can or should be governed by mere intentions and dreams. It must be governed with genuine and sound ideas in tune with the yearning and general aspirations of our middle class and the teeming youths.
The myriad of problems facing the nation at the moment cannot be wished away by mere lamentation and teeth-gnashing.
There’s need for concerted efforts by able-bodied and intellectually-gifted men and women of this nation led by a strong, dependable and reliable leadership to take us out of this self imposed journey into the doldrums, and Atiku Abubakar will do that. He has passed the test of leadership at all given times. Therefore, this is not a misplaced outburst.
Atiku Abubakar, beyond the shadow of a doubt, has demonstrated the capacity and fitness to lead this nation especially, at a time like this that wisdom is required to amend the torn fabric of our dear country.
Finally, we all know that discontent, distrust, insecurity, unemployment and fear are perfect recipe for disaster. We avert such doom with Atiku Abubakar at the helm.
-
2019: Has Atiku entered another ‘One Chance’? – Mideno Bayagbon
By Mideno Bayagbon
From all indications, it appears that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, despite being seemingly the most prepared to be President, despite his wide political connections and despite his known capability to fund his presidential campaign, has, once again, an herculean task on his hands, as all the major political forces, both in the PDP and outside of it, tend to be working frantically to ensure that he never gets the ticket to confront President Mohammadu Buhari in the 2019 general elections.
A major tendency in the PDP, spearheaded by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, who former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in a veiled reference, in his famous letter to President Buhari, accused of buying the Supreme Court judgment that enthroned the faction of the PDP, headed by Senator Ahmed Makarfi, who was then the interim Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the recognised faction, is fully bent on frustrating Atiku Abubakar’s ambition. This group has among others, three serving governors, Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, and not too surprisingly Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto State, who is being promoted by Wike, among their top contenders.
There is also the silent group headed by Obasanjo who do not want Atiku Abubakar to become the PDP candidate and as such are pulling powerful strings to ensure he does not get it. Apart from working through acolytes in the opposition party, some persons TNG spoke with, believe that the fear of Atiku, getting the PDP ticket and facing the largely weakened President Buhari, is one of the major reasons Obasanjo came up with the group, Nigerian National Mandate, ostensibly to ensure that Buhari never returns and that a younger person, takes over the realm in 2019. To the Obasanjo group, it is anybody but Buhari; but even at that, that person is definitely not Atiku.
To the Nyesom Wike insider group in the PDP, the quest to be power brokers and be sole authorities to decide who gets what, has been a major project. It is also a personal project for Wike, who is seemingly in a life and death battle with his former boss, Rotimi Amaechi. The calculations in the Wike camp, it is learnt, is that if Buhari wins a second term and Rotimi Amaechi continues to enjoy Buhari’s favour, it might eventually speak political doom for Wike who, if he wins a second term, like he is likely to do, will be an outgoing governor in 2023, while Rotimi Amaechi who has been quietly eyeing a possible run for the presidency in 2023 under the envisaged rotation of the presidential seat to the South East, will be on the political ascent. The reverse will be the case if a Tambuwal propelled presidential candidacy trounces Buhari at the polls. So there is a Rivers State angle in the story.
In the Wike group too, is the belief that PDP, as it stands today, is mainly a South South and South East party since that is where eight of its eleven governors come from. Their claim is also that the funding of the party in the last four years has mainly come from these state governments and they will, eventually also going to, play a huge financial role in funding the campaign for the presidency. He who pays the piper, insiders in the Wike camp say, have a right to decide who to back. They believe that the voice of these two zones must be heard and heard loud and very clearly. The thinking is that these zones have the upper hand in deciding who to back for the presidency in 2019.
Already, there is a groundswell of opposition rising against Wike in the party. Most of the prominent political bigwigs in the party, which surprisingly include former President Jonathan, former military President Ibrahim Babangida and a host of others, are against the rising profile of the Wike group, especially with their attempt to foist Aminu Tambuwal on the party as its presidential candidate. It is taken for granted that almost all the PDP heavy weights in the South West are lined up against the Wike group. Even a lull has recently been noticed in the rather rosy relationship Wike and Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State used to enjoy. Infact, conclusion, from the various people spoken to, indicates that should Wike insist on pushing the Tambuwal candidacy, the PDP will be heading up for another factionalisation, and on the road to paving way for an easy Buhari win. People like Dankwambo are said to be particularly very angry that, despite all efforts they have put in to ensure a united party, and despite the fact that they have spent more time trying to build the party than in running their states and other businesses, Wike is trying to make himself the sole kingmaker who can impose Tambuwal over and ahead of those who have stuck with the party and worked tirelessly for his viability.
But then, analysts who have watched carefully the unusual romance Wike and Tambuwal have shared in the last three years are not surprised that the two governors are now the major talk points in the party. Infact careful observers saw the deft hands of Tambuwal during the recent PDP convention to elect party executives. Indeed it is said that it was the strategic alliance between Wike and Tambuwal that led to the foisting of Secondus as party chairman, when to all intent and purposes, the South West had assumed it was their turn to produce the party chairman. Not new to circumventing established party power arrangements, Tambuwal was able to work in cohort with Wike to impose their preferred candidate. The anger of the South West PDP is still at boiling point. It has become clear to most people in the PDP hierarchy that Wike and Tambuwal’s eyes were on the presidential race and the party chairmanship was just a dress rehearsal of what they intend to do at the presidential primaries. A Secondus as party chairman was just one of the jokers in their arsenals.
For Atiku, the road ahead appears very rough. He is not expected to reap the fruits of the internal fights in the PDP by the different sides for supremacy.
The side that is set to fight viciously with the Wike group in the PDP is also positioning former North West governors of Kano, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Ahmed Shekarau alongside former Jigawa governor, and arch enemy of President Buhari, Sule Lamido, and Aminu Dankwambo as their possible preferred choices.
However, Rabiu Kwankwaso, like the Sokoto governor, Tambuwal, is currently an APC member; at least in name. All who have watched his political fortunes
since he lost the APC primaries to Buhari would have noted the scorch earth political tactics that were launched against him in the APC and in his home state, Kano. His former deputy and protege, who he propped up to be governor has turned sourly against him and has worked frantically to try to erase his political footprints in the state and decimate his political group known as Kwankwasiya. The most recent example, was when Kwankwaso was forcefully prevented from going to Kano to address his political supporters. The belief in Aso Rock is that he will eventually dump the APC for PDP, and unless checkmated, could come out tops in PDP to confront Buhari at the presidential polls next year. The fear really is that the Kano massive electoral vote could be lost to the PDP or at best be hugely depleted by a Kwankwaso riding the PDP presidential train.
The fear of a Kwankwaso presidential bid sends jitters down the spine of the Buhari inner caucus team. It is this same team close to Aso Rock, who accuse him of disloyalty and of not cooperating with the Buhari administration since he was defeated at the Teslim Balogun stadium in Lagos during the APC primaries. This is the same team that has fomented trouble for him with the party structure and even in his home state, Kano. They have not forgotten that but for the war chest raised by Bola Tinubu and Rotimi Amaechi, Kwankwaso could have easily defeated Buhari for the candidacy.
Political watchers are however not unmindful of the fact that Atiku, who inherited the Yar’Adua political machinery is not a push over. That he is a fighter. Indeed more than any other contender, he is most likely going to fight hard to get the South West in his corner, while his political allies and foot soldiers, widely spread across the country are already working over drive to neutralise both the schemmings against him in the PDP and from the Obasanjo angle. Yet it is also agreed, due to his age, that this is Atiku’s last chance to successfully run for the presidency. How he manages the process and wins the nomination to run against President Buhari, as the PDP candidate is being waited on, with baited breathe.