Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has
reiterated that restructuring the country is a necessity and not an
option, saying Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo’s approbation and
reprobation would not help the country......
The former vice president has also
dispelled the widespread allegation that he was corrupt while serving
with former President Olusegun Obasanjo
Atiku, a presidential aspirant on the
platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), while reacting to a
statement credited to Osinbajo, who was quoted to have said that Atiku’s
concept of restructuring “is understandably vague, because he seeks to
cover every aspect of human existence in that definition,” described his
statement as most unfortunate.
According to a statement issued
yesterday in Abuja by Atiku Campaign Organization, Osinbajo had written
to Premium Times in response to an essay on restructuring authored by
Atiku.
Osinbajo had also recently stated that
“the problem with our country is not a matter of restructuring,” but
Atiku argued that “if the vice president has changed his stance, I
welcome it, but we should not use one finger to hide behind semantics.”
The former vice president said he had
been at the forefront of the discourse on restructuring since the 1995
Abacha Constitutional Conference, stressing that to the best of his
knowledge, there has not been any term like ‘geographic restructuring’.
“It is a strange concept, not only
because it is not what the restructuring debate is all about, but also
because the words of the vice president, which prompted my response,
were clear, unambiguous and unequivocal.
“It is understandable that the Vice
President, Osinbajo has written to Premium Times to douse the tension
his comments created. However, in doing so, the vice president should
not attempt to revise history by saying he spoke against ‘geographic
restructuring,” Atiku said.
The former vice president stressed that
he has been very clear, detailed, and unambiguous about his ideas of
restructuring, adding that at several occasions, including, but not
limited to his speeches at the Royal Institute of International Affairs
(Chatham House) and at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he gave very
clear and concise ideas about administrative, political and economic
restructuring.
According to Atiku, “My advice to the
vice president is that he should choose whether he is for restructuring
or whether he is against it and stick to his choice. This continuous
prevarication, this approbation and reprobation help no one, least of
all true progressives who know that Nigeria needs to be restructured and
restructured soon.”
Meanwhile, Atiku has dispelled the
widespread allegation that he was corrupt while serving as the vice
president to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti yesterday during
his consultative visit on his presidential ambition, Atiku appealed to
gladiators in the party to be united ahead of the 2019 general election,
saying the party has a good prognosis to win the presidential poll if
leaders exhibit extraordinary commitments.
The former vice president reiterated that allegations of corruption against him were false
“I have always said that if they have
any evidence of corruption against Atiku, please come forward. But
nobody has been able to come forward,” he said
Atiku added that he had well packaged
and distinct programmes contained in his blueprint to develop the
country if elected to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
Addressing Governor Ayo Fayose, Atiku
described the governor as “brutally frank,” saying: “I like the way you
do things. You’re brutally frank. You say your mind, it’s a very rare
quality. So, I commend you for who you are. We will stand by you and the
party in Ekiti State until you retrieves your stolen mandate.”
Fayose called for unity of the members
of the party, saying Atiku has “the shoulder, you have the height, you
have thenwherewithal. Our prayer is that it will not be an effort in
futility.”
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