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Tag: atiku

  • I’m not running from America, I applied for visa but was denied – Atiku

    I’m not running from America, I applied for visa but was denied – Atiku

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said contrary to rumours peddled around, he has been applying for the United States Visa but was denied on administrative grounds.

    The former Vice President revealed this in an interview with The Boss newspaper, published by Dele Momodu.

    “I applied, but wasn’t issued a visa. However, they did not decline me categorically either. They’ve only said my application is going through administrative process,” he said.

    “It is the sole prerogative of America to determine who they want in their country or not. I’m not running away from America,” he stated further.

    The former vice-president said such administrative denials were not unique to him, insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari could not also enter the country for 15 years due to his religious views.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that there had been wide speculations that Atiku’s run in with U.S. authorities stemmed from a broadband contract award to iGate, an America company which Williams Jefferson, then U.S. federal lawamker from Louisiana, had interest in.

    Jefferson was said to have used his political influence and friendship with Atiku to ensure that the contract went smoothly in Nigeria with intentions to pay some kickbacks to Nigerian officials, including the former vice president.

    Jefferson revealed in a secretly recorded conversation with the FBI that Atiku stood to benefit up to $500,000 for helping influence the broadband deal in Nigeria at the time.

    Although Jefferson lost his representative seat and served jail term in America for the deal, Atiku was never prosecuted in Nigeria. It is also not clear if Atiku was indicted in the U.S over the case.

    “On the issue of corruption, I have challenged anyone, anywhere, who has any evidence of corruption against me to come forward. I’m sure they would have combed everywhere trying to find anything incriminating against me, but they have not found it, or they are still searching,” he said.

    Atiku who served as vice-president from 1999-2007 with former President Olusegun Obasanjo has largely been a businessman since retiring from Nigeria Customs Service decades ago.

    He dismissed his critics and contenders as lacking basic entrepreneurial knowledge, hence the reason they despise him for his own business acumen.

    “Let any of those who want to compete with me show what they have managed successfully,” he said.

    The former vice president who recently decamped from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is tipped to run for Presidency in 2019.

  • 2019: I will defeat Buhari this time…he has wasted his massive goodwill – Atiku

    • I left APC because it has become Buhari’s property – Atiku

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is confident he will defeat President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019 presidential election in Nigeria.

    Atiku who made the observation in an interview he had with Dele Momodu said it would be easy for his to defeat Buhari this time because he [Buhari]has wasted his massive goodwill

    His words, “I will definitely beat him this time. He has wasted a lot of his massive goodwill. A lot of people are disgruntled but keeping quiet and lying low. Our youths are suffering terribly and now they are being sold into slavery. Everyone knows my track record of inviting and attracting a good team and giving them the opportunity to work professionally. Nigerians are tired of leaders who cannot think big and work big. Dele, I will be ready from day one…”

    “No, definitely not. Buhari is free to contest and I’m free to contest. And Nigerians will make their choice.

    “After Buhari won the election, he was no longer interested in the Party that made him President. Every activity stopped and not even the Party Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, could take any decision. I called Chief Oyegun a few times to tell him our Party was dying slowly but he told me he would not do anything unless he got clearance from the President.

    “At a stage, I gathered about 18 prominent members and began to meet in the hope that we can re-energise Party activities, but some people lied to the President that I wanted to use the forum to launch my Presidential campaign. That forum became simply dead on arrival. No BOT, no NEC meetings, as stipulated in our Constitution. The Party became a one-man property. Everyone grumbles behind the President’s back but they are too timid to raise a voice against the illegalities being perpetuated. I should be bold enough to know what I want, and can do so at my age, so I decided to leave…”

    When asked about his chances of getting the PDP ticket, the former Vice Presidfent said “He told me why he should get it: “Nothing is absolutely certain in this life, but PDP needs a candidate with the brightest chance and that can only come from someone who has major experience, exposure, knowledge about running an economy, who is a Nationalist and not a sectionalist and whose brand cannot be intimidated in anyway by that of the current President. If PDP picks a weak candidate, then the Party is doomed. Some of those whose names are being touted and bandied about have not grown beyond their immediate domains.”

     

  • Atiku reveals why Buhari was denied access to US for 15 years

    Atiku reveals why Buhari was denied access to US for 15 years

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has revealed the reason President Muhammadu Buhari was banned from entering the United States.

    Atiku said Americans had reservations about his religious views, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said Friday.

    Recall that critics have long accused Mr. Buhari of holding extreme religious views that antithetical to modern democratic principles.

    In 2001, Mr. Buhari drew nationwide backlash when he declared his total commitment to Islamic doctrine of Shari’a and called on Muslims to only vote for their fellow Muslims during elections.
    But the president has denied being an extremist, saying he tolerates other religions as much as he does his Muslim faith.

    “For about 15 years, Buhari could not enter America on account of religious considerations,” Mr. Abubakar said in an interview with Dele Momodu which was published in The Boss Newspaper Saturday.

    Mr. Momodu had asked Mr. Abubakar why he had not been able to visit the United States for many years, amid speculations that he is wanted in that country for a slew of sharp practices.

    Mr. Abubakar, who is expected to run for president in 2019, said the U.S. authorities have nothing against him. He said he was able to visit Europe regularly without being arrested for onward extradition to the U.S.

    The former vice president said if Nigerians elect him president, he would be allowed into the United States just like Mr. Buhari and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, both of whom are now being accorded red carpet treatments in the U.S. after becoming leaders of their respective countries.

  • My business started booming since 1971 – Atiku

    Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has said his business conglomerate started in 1971 when he acquired four pick-up vans under a hire-purchase agreement with a motor distributor company to start a transport business in Lagos.

    The former Vice President stated this on on Thursday night at InterContinental Hotel in Lagos after receiving the Honourary Achiever Award at the Africa’s Youth Entrepreneurs Conference and Award titled “A Stand With The Giants.”

    This was revealed in a statement signed and released by his media team.

    In his words: “I came to Lagos on June 29, 1969 and after my two years training (with the Nigeria Customs Service); I was posted to the border station of Idi-Iroko. At that time, the Badagry Road had not been constructed and the only means of transportation to the rest of the West African corridor was through the Idi-Iroko border to what used to be called Dahomey and what is now known as Benin Republic.

    “On getting to Idi-Iroko, my first posting, I was not married and what I discovered was that the most promising business was transportation. Many pickup vans were transporting women traders from Ajase (Port Novo) to Lagos every morning, and every evening from Lagos back to Port Novo.

    “So I asked myself, how I can seize the opportunity of this moving business. I came over to Lagos and in those days SCOA were the sole distributors of Peugeot, so I went to SCOA and I signed a hire-purchase agreement and bought four of those pickups and gave them to four different drivers and every day they will bring their returns to me and at the end of the month, I will go to SCOA and pay them.

    “I wasn’t married, so my salary was intact and in addition I was saving from what I was getting from my transport business. So, sometime, to be an entrepreneur you must have the ingenuity to be an entrepreneur.”

    Mr. Abubakar said Nigeria’s education system in the early 1960s provided the Nigerian youths opportunities to make diverse carrier choice.

    According to the former Vice President, “the educational system we operated in the First Republic provided our students then the opportunity to either go to universities or go to technical colleges or to go to crafts schools. There was never a dropout in that kind of educational system. The dullest was trained on a skill and given the capital to start a business.”

    He, however, lamented that “suddenly, Nigeria moved away from that to a system of education where you train only job seekers.”

    He said the products of this educational system do not know how to do anything else other than to seek for jobs, adding that they cannot self-employ themselves. “So, what I am trying to say is that my Nigeria is possible and your own Nigeria is possible”, he said.

    The former Vice President urged the youth to take advantage of the rebound in railway infrastructure that was built by the last administration to start a business initiative of transportation of goods across the country and reduce the reliance on heavy-duty trucks to convey those goods.

    He paid tributes to music art youngster, Wizkid for his besting some of the greatest in the industry to clinch the Best International Act at the MOBO awards.

    “Wizkid’s international award is a victory for Nigeria. Art is important not only for the revenue it brings and the business around it but for the image of our country. A good image has the capacity to trigger investments. The investments will generate much-needed jobs. The jobs will not only ensure the security of families but the security of our nation and engender progress and development”, he said.

  • Atiku lauds Buhari over payment of pension for Biafra police

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has praised President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the payment of pension to police personnel who served under the Biafran police during the civil war.

    The Biafra Police officers were granted presidential pardon in 2000.

    In a post on his Twitter page, Atiku said Buhari’s move shows a commitment to peace and unity.

    He wrote: ”I commend @NGRPresident @MBuhari for ordering payment of pensions to pardoned Biafran soldiers. It shows unity!

    ”This move shows a commitment to peace, unity and our shared belief in one Nigeria, with justice and equity for all.”

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) on Wednesday announced that about 162 of such retired police officers and 57 Next of Kin will be paid their benefits in the first phase.

  • Are Ona Kakanfo: Atiku congratulates Alafin, Gani Adams

    Former Vice-President and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Atiku Abubakar has commended the Alaafin of Oyo over his nomination of a new Are Ona Kakanfo.

    The Waziri Adamawa, in a press statement signed by his media office on Wednesday, 18 October, noted that the appointment of Otunba Gani Adams as the new Kakanfo is a call to national duty.

    “In an age when cultural values are increasingly being forgotten, the new Are Ona Kakanfo has a responsibility to promote the rich cultural values of the Yoruba people.

    “I know Otunba Gani Adams to be a man of deep philosophical leaning. I know he is capable of shouldering the responsibilities that comes with the the office and I wish him success as he undertakes those

    Atiku urges the Are Ona Kakanfo to use the privilege of his higher calling to promote the unity of Nigeria and to continue to be a good ambassador of the Yoruba people.

  • PHOTO: Atiku creatively congratulates Super Eagles on victory over Zambia

    Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has joined several other Nigerians who are rejoicing with the Super Eagles over their triumphant victory against Zambia on Saturday.

    Atiku who shared his joy in a very creative photograph he shared on his official Twitter page said the Nigeria team is ready for Russia.

    Also, he particularly praised, Arsenal forward, Alex Iwobi, Arsenal who sent Nigeria to the 2018 World Cup finals with his winning goal.

  • Independence: Jonathan, Atiku, Saraki, Dogara, governors, others preach unity to Nigerians

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, Senate President Bukola Saraki, Speaker of the House of Reps, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and several governors in Nigeria, preached unity to Nigerians as the country celebrates its 57th independence anniversary on Sunday.

    None of us is as great as all of us – Jonathan

    In a message released by his spokesman, Ikechukwu Eze, the ex-President stressed that the country would surmount its challenges and emerge stronger.

    “As a nation we are moving on. On October 1, 2010, we celebrated our golden jubilee as an independent nation. Again, in January 2014, we celebrated our centenary. And, today, October 1, 2017, we are celebrating our 57th independence anniversary.

    “It may seem as though we are passing through insurmountable challenges, but I am very intimately aware of the can-do Nigerian spirit which will help us surmount our present challenges.

    “Let me also seize this opportunity to call for togetherness, oneness and accommodation for all. We must accept the fact that none of us is as great as all of us”.

    Nigerians would rather remain together to build a perfect union – Atiku

    Former Nigerian Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, has urged Nigerians to use the Independence Day celebration scheduled for Saturday as a time of sober reflection and also to thank God for the strides made so far as a nation.

    Mr. Abubakar, who said this via a statement issued by his media team, noted that despite numerous challenges, the nation was on a right path.

    ”On this October 1st, 2017, I congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari and all Nigerians on the occasion of Nigeria’s 57th Independence anniversary.

    There are those that may say we have very little to celebrate and I will respectfully disagree with them. In 57 years, Nigeria has faced many challenges, but we have overcome many of those challenges and made progress in multiple spheres of human endeavour,” he said.

    He noted though that there was still more to be done to achieve the nation of everyone’s dreams.

    ”A lot of work still has to be done to overcome the many challenges we still face as a nation including terrorism, the national question, sluggish economic growth, youth unemployment and a huge out of school population amongst our youth.

    We must continue to work together to surmount challenges threatening our unity – Okowa

    ”However, these challenges are not insurmountable. Thankfully, the prevailing sentiment is that we as Nigerians would rather remain together even as we make positive efforts to build a perfect union along the lines of the vision of our founding fathers,” Mr. Atiku said.

    Also, the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Saturday felicitated with Nigerians on the 57th Independence anniversary with a charge on Nigerians to work against violence and all threats to the corporate existence of the country.

    In a statement in Asaba on Saturday by his Chief Press Secretary, Charles Aniagwu, Governor Okowa admonished Nigerians to be proud of their country and desist from acts that are inimical to the continued corporate existence of the country.

    Okowa said: “On behalf of Government and the people of Delta State, I congratulate Nigerians on the occasion of the 2017 Independence Day celebration on October 1, 2017. Our people have enjoyed democracy since 1999 and appreciate better, the inherent gains of democracy, as respect for human rights and the rule of law. As Nigerians, we must continue to work together to surmount the challenges threatening to destabilise our budding democracy and undo the gains achieved in the past 18 years.”

    Nigeria will continue to make progress – Wike

    Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has also felicitated with Nigerians on the 57th Independence Anniversary, urging all Nigerians to be committed to building bridges of peace and development.

    He congratulated all Nigerians on the successful celebration of the 57th Independence Anniversary, noting that despite the challenges of nationhood, Nigeria will continue to make progress.

    In a message issued by his aide on electronic media, Simon Nwakaudu, Governor Wike declared that the government and people of Rivers State will continue to work for a united Nigeria.

    He stated that the state is not part of any agitation for secession, pointing out that Rivers people are committed to one, indivisible Nigeria.

    Obaseki urges Nigerians to live peacefully and be broad-minded

    Obaseki asked Nigerians to use the occasion of the celebration to embrace unity and peaceful co-existence.

    The Edo governor said the joy of being independent people could not be qualified as it was capable of bringing limitless freedom and a high sense of self-worth. He pleaded with Nigerians to remain broad-minded, accommodating and living with one another peacefully, irrespective of our diversity.

    He pleaded with Nigerians to remain broad-minded, accommodating and living with one another peacefully, irrespective of our diversity.

    Let’s continue to work for peace, stability —Saraki

    Saraki called for peaceful co-existence among Nigerians, just as he congratulated the country for sustaining her status as a united and progressive country.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the Senate President urged Nigerians, irrespective of creed and tribe, to continue to work for the peace, unity and stability of the country.

    He called on political, traditional, religious and business leaders to close ranks in order to initiate and implement ideas and strategies that would further develop the country and increase the standard of living of the citizenry, saying the task for a greater Nigeria is a collective responsibility of every citizen, just as he enjoined every citizen to believe in the project Nigeria and pray for peace and progress of the country.

    Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, in his own message, emplored Nigerians to be patient and optimistic, as the country would surely overcome her challenges.

    Ekweremadu said: “I am an optimist. As a matter of principle, I prefer to see the positive sides of life without also overlooking the problems also.

    At 57, we have no doubt had our challenges as a nation. But we have also made progress. We survived a civil war to remain one country.

    Nigeria would only attain greatness in an atmosphere of peace —Dogara

    Dogara said that unless Nigerians shunned sectional sentiments and promoted national interest, the country would not achieve true independence.

    In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, the Speaker noted that Nigeria would only attain greatness in an atmosphere of peace, unity and stability.

    We can surmount our challenges if we collaborate, confront them – David Mark

    A former Senate President, Senator David Mark called for a renaissance spirit among Nigerians as a panacea to the current socio-economic and political challenges, just as he acknowledged that Nigerians are passing through difficult times.

    In a message signed by his Media Assistant, Paul Mumeh, Mark, who enjoined Nigerians to shun mundane issues such as ethnicity or religious differences that tend to create disharmony, said,”

    We can surmount our challenges if we collaborate and confront them in a more determined, focused and honest manner”

    We must restructure the country’s present governance architecture – Anayaoku

    Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, said Nigerians should celebrate 57 years of existence as a sovereign country but a must resolve to deal effectively with the challenges, some of which are existential, facing the country”.

    Anyaoku said in his statement: “The undeniable reality of the current state of affairs in Nigeria is that the country since the civil war has never been as divided as it is now in the face of armed insurgency in the North East, a threat of secession by some elements in the South East, rampaging Fulani herdsmen wreaking havoc in parts of the country, militancy in the Niger Delta, an economy just recovering from recession and incalculable damage being done to the country’s development by massive corruption.

    To effectively tackle these challenges and put our diverse country on the road to political stability and its deserved development, we must move from our present nominal to a true federalism, in other words, we must restructure the country’s present governance architecture.

  • Mama Taraba + Baba Adamawa – Buhari [3] – Godwin Etakibuebu

    By Godwin Etakibuebu

    Last week we mentioned the first three categories of Principality and Powers that Atiku Abubakar must necessarily confront on his race to the presidency, come 2019. Former President; Olusegun Obasanjo, with his typical trait of not forgiving; a major characteristic of the Owu people of Egba in Ogun State, remains the first category. Yes, Obasanjo is not God but he has become such a phenomenon and a deity sort of person in the Nigerian political landscape that Baba Adamawa would need the help of the God of Heaven to overcome his former boss if he really wants to be president of Nigeria.

    The second category of Principalities and Powers Atiku must overcome on his voyage to the presidency in 2019, as we pointed out last week, is Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu. Unlike Olusegun Obasanjo, Tinubu has no personal hatred for Atiku Abubakar, nor does he belong to the unforgiving section of the Yoruba tribe. Instead, Bola Tinubu is a man with clean and generous heart for people. He is a builder, he is a born-mentor of people, and he is a man with natural hatred for pulling people down.

    He is a long-rage planner of political events. His acumen and shrewdness in political maneuvering has no immediate equal. He has the wisdom to tame political predators – if in doubt, ask Olusegun Obasanjo. The latter [Obasanjo] saw pepper in the hands of the former [Tinubu] for eight years, when Obasanjo was president of Nigeria while Tinubu held office as governor of Lagos State. That was the time Tinubu showed his supremacy in the game of political permutation and manipulation.

    He understands how to create and sustain his political dynasty. It is for this reason that he [Bola Tinubu] may not be a willing helper to Atiku Abubakar on his tough endeavours to clinching the presidency in 2019. The Bola Tinubu we know, understands better that the sustainability of his political dynasty into the next generation might be jeopardized if he backs Atiku Abubakar [now] against Muhammadu Buhari or any of his [Buhari’s] nominee, in case of some eventuality that could stop Buhari from continuity.

    All these calculations are within the precinct of the All Progressive Congress [APC] because Bola Tinubu will not do two things. One, he is not most likely to abandon the APC that he laboured enough in forming to any other new party to be created – be it by the name of mega or extra-mega. Two, Bola Tinubu will never join the People Democratic Party [PDP] though there is no ideological difference between both – PDP and APC.

    For Bola Tinubu, “the devil you know is better than the angel you have never met”. He is more at home with this APC, which he built from the scratch in the names of Alliance for Democracy [AD], Action Congress [AC], Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] and All Progressive Congress [APC]. Atiku Abubakar would never have Bola Tinubu’s backing if he remains in APC because of the analysis given earlier. That leaves him with the option of moving back to PDP, which would be, of course his second time of “crossing the carpet”. And it is for this reason of “going and coming” that we identified the Party [PDP] as the third category of Principalities and Powers that might block his ride to the presidency in 2019 last week. There are more obstacles for Baba Adamawa to overcome if he really wants to be Nigerian’s President as from 2019.

    That brings us to the fourth Principalities and Powers. Though this is inanimate, it is almost more powerful than others. It is the two geo-political zones of the North/West and South/West. These are the two geo-political zones that decides who becomes president of Nigeria through the ballot box.
    The North/West with its Seven States has the population. It has a unifying religious language that commands totalitarian subjection of all the people of the zone. It carries the symbol of the Khalifah and the Caliphate. It is the only standing and the last authority of Shaihu Usman Dan Fodio; the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate [born December 15, 1754 and died April 20, 1817]. Disobedience to a standing order of the Khalifah is never a matter of consideration amongst the aborigines. An indigene of this zone can only question the Caliphate’s order to his/her peril.

    Will Atiku Abubakar get this zone’s nod to run for the presidency if, for any reason, Muhammadu Buhari fails to make it for the second tenure? I doubt this very much as the APC, fully backed by Bola Tinubu and his South/West Power, would articulate and sustain the candidacy of Aminu Waziri Tambuwal [current governor of Sokoto State] to the detriment of El Rufai [current governor of Kaduna State] and Rabiu Kwankwaso [former governor of Kano State].
    The South/West with its Six States has the population [actually more than all other zones in Nigeria]. It is politically more enlightened than all the remaining zones of the federation. Above all however is what we can call “Yoruba Parapo” – a sort of solidarity that will see them giving all their votes, under a leadership that they believed [which Bola Tinubu has proved after the late Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo] to whosever the leadership points. We have said it enough that Atiku Abubakar may not enjoy this confidence despite the fact that his first wife; Titi Abubakar, is of Yoruba stock from Ilesha.

    The last category of the Principalities and Powers for consideration would be some foreign countries – America specifically. We all witnessed how American government helped, using all means, in removing Goodluck Jonathan from power in Nigeria though President Jonathan carried his baggage of political naivety and misadventures. What we are hearing from the grapevine, about American’s government views on Atiku Abubakar, may not be too palatable to the latter.

    The reason for the relocation of his fourth wife; Jennifer Iwenjora [now known as Hajia Jamila Atiku-Abubakar] from the State of Maryland in the United States of America to the United Arab Emirate a few years ago may not be given too much publicity by the American government but tongues are wagging that the Yankees may not want to back the candidature of Atiku Abubakar for the Nigerian presidency.

    As l draw the curtain on this exercise, l want to make it abundantly clear that l have spoken thus far as a political technocrat [because l am never a politician and l can never be one], taking my little understanding of the Nigerian political terrain to the market place of the people. Ipso facto, there is nothing of absolutism about my presentations, more so when l, as a Christian, know for sure that it is only God that makes leaders.
    Yes, the obstacles on the path of Baba Adamawa to the presidency are physically there but if God says he would be, there is nobody on earth that can stop him. God can raise many Mama Taraba for Baba Adamawa against Muhammadu Buhari, in becoming the next president, against all odds. And that is just God for you!
    Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran journalist, wrote from Lagos.

  • Lamido blasts Atiku, APC over 2019 elections

    The former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has warned against politics of blackmail and hatred ahead of the 2019 general election.

    He stressed that such would not help the existing democracy and Nigeria as a nation.

    Lamido said this in a chat with newsmen in his Bamaina, Birninkudu Local Government Area country home in Jigawa State.

    He condemned recent comments about the People Democratic Party, PDP, credited to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar

    “Atiku is entitled to his opinion like any other Nigerian,” he said.

    “Some people, especially politicians, should not be condemning others with different political ideology, interest or opinion,” he added.‎

    Lamido, however, added that APC demonstrated that it cannot rule the country.

    “There is no way Nigerians can be convinced again on falsehood, as in the past, to vote APC for second term in office because APC doesn’t know administration at all”, Vanguard quoted him as saying.