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Tag: Atiku Abubakar

  • My father was jailed for refusing to let me attend school – Atiku

    Late father of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was jailed for refusing to let him attend school in his hometown of Jada, Adamawa State.

    The former Vice President recalled the incident on Sunday  in remarks at  the conferment of an honorary doctorate degree on him by the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Switzerland.

    “When my father was put in jail by local authorities because he needed my assistance with herding the livestock, it seemed like a harsh punishment.”

    “Were he to be alive to witness this day (Sunday ) and the last 30 or so years of my life I am sure that he would exclaim “wow! Education pays after all, ” Atiku stated.

    The founder of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola recalled that as a young lad growing up in his rustic village of Jada, he had dreams, but that it was education that made his dreams come true. 

    According to him, “education is what brought me in contact with members of the United States of America’s Peace Corps when I was still a little boy; a contact and interaction that would have profound impact on my life, especially my love for education and service.”

    While underscoring the imperative of education to personal growth and development, the former Vice President said it gave him the friends he made across Nigeria as he attended high school and university; gave him a job in the Nigerian civil service; and provided him with opportunities to meet and form more life-long friendships from across the world. 

    Atiku  attributed the modest achievements he has made in business and politics and the contributions in improving the lives of others to education.

    He stressed that education is what has informed his determination to give back to society, especially through education.

    He noted that the centrality of  education in the improvement of the human condition is one reason why public policy must seek to always improve the quality of and access to public education everywhere in the world, especially in developing countries like Nigeria.

    He advised parents not to choose career options for their children but allow them to discover their innate potentials by charting their own preferred discipline.

    “A young friend of mine, who heads the human resources department of an organization in Nigeria, called me up one night about seven months ago and said he came across an application for employment by one of my children and wondered whether I consented to my child applying to work in that organization. 

    “I asked why he needed to clear that with me first and he said he thought that I would prefer that my child works in one of my establishments.  I then told him that I do not choose careers for my children.  I owe them good education; I support them to acquire good education.  What they do thereafter is up to them as adults,” Atiku said. 

    Others who received honorary doctorate degrees from the same institution are His Excellency (Dr.) Oguz Demiralp, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey and His Excellency (Dr.) Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Director General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) and Honorary Dean of the Geneva School of Diplomacy.

  • Atiku decries militarization of democracy

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has decried the pervading culture of  political intolerance and impunity in the country despite the end of military rule over a decade ago.

    The former Vice President, who was speaking in Switzerland as a Guest Speaker of the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations on Monday, regretted that in Nigeria and other parts of Africa opposition members are treated as enemies of the state.

    In his paper entitled “Deepening Democracy in Nigeria: Implications for Africa,” Abubakar said as a result of such lip service to democratic principles, “disregard for rules and regulations and the utter impunity with which they are committed,” has led to what he called “the militarization of democracy.”

    According to him, many retired military chiefs, who came into power as politicians entered the democratic arena without being able to shed their military mindsets, thereby exacerbating the culture of intolerance and entrenching impunity, which characterises today’s political reality in Nigeria.

    The former Vice President, however, admitted that despite these democratic challenges, the freedom of speech, of association, of the right to organise politically and the liberty to criticise the government were restored with the return of democratic rule.

    Atiku also acknowledged that with the new democratic order in Nigeria, the courts in the country are more relatively independent in addition to freedom of the press that came with it.

    However, the former Vice President regretted that these democratic gains are being threatened by the persistent perception of political opposition as an enemy that has to be crushed “rather than patriots who happen to disagree simply because they hold different political views.”

    He noted that legitimate disagreement with attempt to extend the tenure of sitting leaders beyond their constitutional term limits had met with the harassment and humiliation of those dissented against such moves.

    Atiku also lamented that members of the ruling parties that opposed lack of internal democracy or abuse of power by those occupying executive political offices were either repressed and harassed, thereby undermining the institutions of democracy.

    Despite these negative features of Nigeria’s democratic order, the former Vice President said the performance of the economy, particularly in the first eight years of the democratic experiment, has provided a flipside to these unpleasant realities.

     

  • Jonathan, Atiku, Oshiomhole, others mourn Tribune Publisher

    President Goodluck Jonathan and other eminent Nigerians have paid tributes to the Publisher of Tribune Newspapers, Chief Oluwole Awolowo who died on Thursday in London.

    Jonathan said  in his condolence message to the Awolowo family said  the death Chief  Awolowo as sad and painful, noting that he was a distinguished evangelist, humanist and community leader.

    Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole and former Vice President  Atiku Abubakar also sympathized with the bereaved family.

    The President described the late Chief Awolowo as a worthy and honoured member of the Awolowo dynasty who diligently served God and humanity to the best of his abilities.

    He commended his steadfast, life-long commitment to upholding, maintaining and continually improving the Tribune newspapers which ensured that the paper and its sister publications have remained an objective voice of reason in Nigeria’s media space and continue to offer invaluable services to the nation.

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole said the death of Publisher of the Tribune Newspapers was  painful.

    In a condolence message to the matriarch of Awolowo family, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo, signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Peter Okhiria, Oshiomhole said:  “We share in the grief and pain of the Awolowo family at this very difficult period, knowing how closely knit the family is.

    “Oluwole upheld the Awolowo name till the end and kept the dream of the sage alive through his prudent management of the Tribune newspapers. He will always be remembered for his forthrightness.

    “Much as his death is painful to bear, we urge you to take heart and trust that the Lord whom he served faithfully cannot be wrong in His judgment. Be consoled by the fact that he devoted his life to the service of God and mankind and has gone to rest with the Lord.”

    A statement from the media office of the former Vice President described the late Chief  Awolowo as a peaceful person, who did his best to keep the kite of Awolowo’s heritage flying through decades after the death of the late sage.

    Atiku noted that the death of Chief Oluwole Awolowo is a loss not only to the Awolowo family, but also to all the supporters of the late sage himself.

    He described the deceased as a man who was at peace with his God and fellow humans, a demonstration of a modest life that he lived.

    “Decades after the death of his father, Chief Oluwole Awolowo did his best to keep the kite of the African Newspaper of Nigeria, publishers of the Nigerian Tribune flying. He will be remembered as a man of peace, who was committed to his family,”  the Turaki Adamawa added.

    He prayed that the Almighty God would grant the Awo family particularly its matriarch, Chief (Mrs) HID Awolowo the fortitude to bear the loss.

  • Don’t mix religion with politics – Atiku

    Don’t mix religion with politics – Atiku

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged religious leaders to help the country by separating religion from  politics.

     The former Vice President said, had this been the case few years ago, the nation would have been spared the needless controversies and dissipation of energies that trailed the introduction of Sharia in some parts of the North.

     In a statement issued by his media office in Abuja on Tuesday, the former Vice President said though Muslims are free to practice Sharia in line with Islamic injunction, it was important for religious  rulers to ensure that they do not give politicians the leverage to “smuggle religion into our politics.”

     “The interests of our country will be better served if our religious rulers ensure that religion is taken away from politics and by our politicians not dragging politics into religion,” the Turaki Adamawa said.

     Atiku has dismissed allegations that he wants one of his sons to become the Governor of Adamawa State.

     According to the former Vice President, all his children are content to pursue professional lives in their various callings and that he had no business imposing his choices on them.

     He said such allegation could only have come from idle minds and busybodies looking for cheap publicity or finding someone to blame for their political problems.

     

  • el-Rufai deserves prayer not anger- Atiku

    el-Rufai deserves prayer not anger- Atiku

    The Media office of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has accused Former Federal Capital Territory  Minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufai of writing alleged fiction for self-glorification at the expense of truth.

     Reacting to el-Rufai’s book entitled, “The Accidental Public Servant,” Atiku’s Media office  dismissed el-Rufai’s  book as a collection of fiction, half-truths, exaggeration and reflection of selective memory.

     The Media Office in a statement said it was particularly piqued by  el-Rufai’s claim that he  almost resigned as the former Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) because of alleged persistent pressure and interference by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was then the Chairman of the National Council on Privatization.

     Atiku’s Media Office expressed disbelief that the former FCT Minister forgot soon what he said at the Senate Public Hearing on BPE August 8-13, 2011. That Adhoc committee was headed by Senator Ahmed Lawan.

     It recalled el-Rufai as saying that he had special relationship with former President Obasanjo, which gave him direct access and the discretion to bypass the Council on Privatization headed by Atiku in order to get the approval of the President.

     The Media Office wondered how el-Rufai could reconcile his threat of resignation with the accounts he told the Senate about the latitude of freedom he enjoyed at BPE because of his closeness to former President Obasanjo.

     In the testimony, el-Rufai was quoted as telling the the Senate : “Thank you very much Distinguished Senator. Mr. Chairman, as a matter of principle Mr. Chairman, I am reluctant to judge my successors.  So, whenever I do a job, I move on; I don’t comment on what my successors have done. All I can say is this. Mr. Chairman, if you go through my tenure in BPE, you will see that we try to do everything by the rules, by the book. And we resisted every attempt at political interference. There is a process; step by step. Privatization is a mechanical process. Once you have the process published, every step should not be missed. And there was never a time that we deviated from that process.

    “We took everything we did to the privatization council. That’s how we ran the place. And I swear to God, I am under oath. Except for one time that the vice president called me and said; look I’ve got calls from A and B to help this guy win this, I said Mr. Vice president you know the rules, tell him to bid the highest price because the highest price wins and he said yes I know, I am just telling you in case they contact you.  And I don’t want them to say I didn’t pass on their requests. That was the only time. But no one tried to interfere with my work. There were attempts to block it. President Obasanjo blocked the privatization of Nigeria airways practically. Okay because Kema Chikwe will go and tell him stories. And what is the result today. The company is dead.”

     On the claim by el-Rufai that former President Obasanjo went on bended knees before former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to seek his cooperation for second term bid in 2003, the media office dismissed the claim as a figment of el-Rufai’s wild imagination.

     It said such claim lacked any credibility because Atiku and Obasanjo were alone together behind closed doors and that they alone knew what actually transpired between them.

     The Media Office wondered whether el-Rufai was a fly on the wall to discuss the details of a private meeting between the two leaders.

     Rather than el-Rufai feeding the public with such fabrications, the statement said the former Minister should have provided or quoted the authority for such claim since he was not at the private meeting between former President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

     The statement also added that for a man like el-Rufai who has a notorious reputation for disparaging religions and their icons, including lately Jesus Christ, the attack on Atiku was the  least surprising.

     It noted that if he could go to such irreverent extent to disparage religious icons, who is an ordinary mortal like Atiku Abubakar.

     According to the statement, any man that can cross the boundary of reason and decency, deserves prayers rather than anger.