Tag: Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has declared that he remained the most qualified and most competent among all presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).

He, however, said he would support the party and its flag-bearer in next year’s election.

The APC chieftain said: “I have dedicated my political life to APC. Even if I lost the ticket to another aspirant, I will support such flag-bearer and continued to work for the success of APC in the main election.”

Atiku stated this yesterday in Jos while addressing Plateau State delegates ahead of the APC presidential primaries.

“I consider myself the most competent and most experience in democratic governance than all other contestants in APC. And as a full democrat, I will remain in APC to support the party and whoever emerges as the party’s flag-bearer in the general election.  “If I eventually become president of the country in 2015, I will rule the country on the principle of justice, equity and fairness, which is the hallmark of APC.

The former vice president, who came to Jos to seek the support of APC delegates, said: “I am the most credible and competent, among them, I have spent many years in politics more than any of them. I have being at the Presidency for eight years and I have the prerequisite experience to run for the Presidency.

“However, what is uppermost in the 2015 election is change. We must change the leadership of this country for good. For that reason, I am offering myself for the change. But if another person is elected in the primaries, I will still support such person for the sake of change.

“I am not a desperate politician. If I had wished to contest against Obasanjo in 2003, I would have won landslide. But I am not desperate; God time is the best. So, I urged all the delegates to work hard to bring change in Plateau State and in Nigeria at large”

FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar has assured he will not dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) if he loses the presidential ticket of the party.
He however added that he remains the most qualified aspirant to fly the party’s flag in the 2015 presidential election.
Atiku spoke in Asaba, the Delta State capital, while addressing the state’s delegates for the December 10 APC presidential primary election.
The former vice president said he was vying for the presidency because of his experience in government, adding that he was in the state to solicit for the support of the delegates.
He explained that his wealth of democratic experience and entrepreneurial capability placed him above the other aspirants, saying that he was not a regional leader like most of those competing against him.
Atiku said: “Olorogun O’tega Emerhor is my friend in Delta State and I could have stayed at home and ask him to talk to you on my behalf but I believe in democracy and l do not take Delta for granted. That is why I have to come myself.
“We are about five aspirants running for the APC presidential ticket, but none of the aspirants has distinguished practical political experience like l do.
“I served as Vice President for eight years after serving as a top federal civil servant longer than any of them.”

The United States, United Kingdom, Senate President David Mark and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar condemned yesterday’s attack on a Potiskum, Yobe State school in which pupils died.

A statement from the U.S.  Embassy said:  “The United States condemns in the strongest terms the incessant attacks on defenseless civilians this past week, including on the occasion of Ashura in Potiskum in Yobe State and in Gombe, Gombe State, on Nov. 3; in Malam Fatori in Borno State on Nov. 6; in Azare in Bauchi State on Nov. 7; and most recently again in Potiskum on Nov. 10 by a suicide bomber who killed many students.  While final numbers are not known, scores and scores of persons have been killed or injured in these attacks.

“The United States offers its sincere sympathy to the injured and to the families of the murdered.  We urge the government of Nigeria to investigate these and other attacks to bring the perpetrators to justice.  The United States remains committed to supporting the people of northern Nigeria in their struggle to stop the abhorrent actions of Boko Haram and associated terrorist groups.”

British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, condemned the attack and expressed his support for Nigeria. “I am horrified to hear about the suicide bomb attack  that has killed a large number of students at a school in North East Nigeria, and injured many more,” a statement by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) quoted him as saying.

“I condemn those responsible for this appalling act and hope they are swiftly brought to justice. I offer the British government’s deepest condolences to the bereaved and those who have suffered injury,” Hammond stressed. “We will continue to work closely with the Nigerian government to help them tackle the threat from terrorism,” he added.

Senate President David Mark urged security agencies to step up the war against terrorists.

Mark’s statement  described the attack as barbaric and inhuman saying “it is condemnable by any right thinking member of the society.”

He said the war on Nigerians  by terrorists without boundaries “where men, women, children and even the unborn are victims, speaks volumes of the agenda of the terrorists.

“What  is the offence of  these innocent children? Even in warfare, there are boundaries. Even when enemies are known, women and children are usually spared, let alone of school children.

“No matter the level of anger, it cannot be endless. Enough is enough. We  must remember that no evil done to man by man would go unpunished, if not by man, certainly by the Almighty.

“We cannot continue this way. It is not a way of life. It is time for a cease fire. What do we achieve by ceaseless killings. How can we suddenly forget our brotherhood?

Mark advised security operatives saying “with increased intelligence and surveillance, a lot could be achieved.

Atiku described the killings as one too many, the killing of 47 pupils of the Government Technical Science College, Potiskum, and appealed to those responsible for the act and similar ones in the past to refrain from taking the life which they cannot create.

In a statement from his media office in Abuja, Atiku said that the latest bombing which needlessly claimed the lives of 47 young and promising Nigerian school children is one too many and once again underscores the need for the government at all levels including our elders and opinion leaders to find a permanent solution to the problem of insurgency which has ravaged our country for the past five years.

According to him, the tragic incident in Potiskum is not the first time in Yobe State and indeed in the troubled North-East region that innocent young people are subjected to violence and untimely death for the simple reason that they want an education.

He said: “One expects that knowing the anti-education mind-set of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, the relevant authorities should have done their bit to ensure that at least, our educational institutions are provided with additional security”.

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday painted a gloomy picture of the insurgency in the Northeast, warning that Nigerians might wake up to discover that the Boko Haram sect had overrun the country.

He chided the Federal Government for its handling of the sect, saying it failed to do its constitutional duty of protecting Nigerians.

Atiku, an All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant expressed shock that Boko Haram is controlling 16 local government areas across three states – Borno, Yobe and his home state Adamawa.

Atiku spoke at a news conference in Abuja.

He expressed concern that the country had been unable to confront the horrendous situation, pointing out that Nigerians are increasingly suspecting that the seeming inability of the government to end the crisis is a ploy to weaken some parts of the country ahead of the 2015 elections.

Flanked by Senator Danjuma Goje, Senator Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Senator Jibrilla Bindow, Senator Zanna and Senator Aisha, he said: “You can see that the situation in the country calls for leadership. Leadership on the part of our political leaders, leadership on the part of our armed forces.

“The way they easily overran states suggest that they can over run the whole of this country within a few months. So nobody should feel safe elsewhere. A crisis in any part of this country is a crisis that affects all of us. Even a crisis in other parts of the world sometimes affects the entire world. I really call on government and all Nigerians to ensure that this situation is not allowed to get worse”.

Expressing concern about the situation in the northeast, he said “Honestly, I don’t know what inform decisions taken, but I don’t think that the approach to dealing with this situation is the right one.

“One, the response is very poor, secondly, they don’t make use of the local people to deal with the situation and thirdly, people have alleged that the armed forces are poorly equipped. But five years is more than enough to equip the entire military.

He explained that the insurgents are occupying 16 local government areas in the three states.

“In Yobe, only two local government areas are being occupied by Boko Haram, five in Adamawa and nine in Borno, but you can say that the entire states are not safe.

“There has never been a time the Nigeria military has retaken any area occupied. Can you imagine that a country like Nigeria with one of the best armed forces, cannot recover one single territory from the terrorists?

“How can you now convince me that this government has the capacity to recover an inch if in the last five years, they have not recovered one inch of lost territory. So we are calling on them to be very serious, stand up to their fundamental responsibility of protecting the people of this country. Otherwise, the whole of this country can be over ran”.

The former Vice President also faulted the government for “not telling us what we should know”. At the beginning when these Chibok girls were kidnapped, it took the government a while to admit that the girls were actually kidnapped.

“It was when it became an international issue that the government came out to admit that those girls were actually kidnapped. Many countries offered international assistance and support.

“But we did not hear anything from our government about how far they were working with those international partners to rescue these girls. They don’t have regular reports. I am not in government, but as a Nigerian, I believe that I am supposed to know what my government is doing to rescue those girls.

“It is a primary responsibility of any government to protect its citizens. But this is a government which has allowed a bunch of small terrorist group to operate freely for close to five years now. We fought a 30-month civil war and achieved total unification and reconciliation. When the war started, it started as a police action.

“But this is an insurgency that has lasted for five years. I recall that when we in office, such an insurgency arose and it took us just a few weeks to flush out those insurgents.

“Those who did not surrender faced the music of the armed forces. Infact, people did not even know about this. But here we are with Africa’s so called best military”

On what he would have done separately to address the situation, he said “I would have used a large number of the fighting force to come from that area where the insurgency is because they know the terrain better than any other Nigerian you can think of.

“If you recall, during the civil war, when we had problem dealing with the riverine areas, we had to establish a world brigade of Marine Commandos, trained them to be able to deal with the riverine areas and it became very successful.

“A few weeks ago, a said that if I were in government , I would have recruited the civilian JTF, train them for three months and use them to flush out the terrorists. Two or three days later, the Defence Headquarters said they were going to hire them and train them as soldiers. Did it require me, a civilian to tell the defense headquarters what to do?

“You know that if you are fighting in a terrain that you don’t know very well you need local support. Why not make use of the local support? Most of the boys over running the places are from the same area.

“Those who come from Mubi tell me that these boys were part of them and were recruited by Boko Haram. Why can’t the military not do the same. Why will you bring somebody from Bayelsa to come and fight a war in Adamawa or Borno state when he has never seen a mountain in Bayelsa”.

The former Vice President urged the international community to help the nation in dealing with the insurgency, saying “I am making a special appeal to countries with sufficient knowhow and experience in tackling terrorism to increase their assistance to us.