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Tag: atiku

  • APC will end PDP monopoly of power – Atiku

    APC will end PDP monopoly of power – Atiku

    The former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Wednesday said the All Progressive Congress is the only party standing in the way of dictatorship and one party system in the country.

    Atiku, a presidential aspirant of the APC stated this in Abakaliki during his campaign visit to Ebonyi State chapter of the party.

    He noted that all the presidential aspirants of the party have resolved to support whoever emerges from the party’s primaries.

    According to him APC is set to end PDP monopoly of power at the centre in 2015 by emerging victorious at the polls.

    He said: “I want to thank you for the warm reception accorded me. This is the only time in the nation’s political history that we have opportunity to make positive change in our lives and unborn generation because since 1999, we have been subjected to only one party. We did not have an alternative, as we did now.

    “Since APC was formed last year, Nigeria now has a chance to make positive change. If APC did not come, we could have gotten what is in other African countries, that is we would have ended up with dictators.

    “If we fought military rule, we can fight one-party system. Because of the sins of PDP, there is no place for them in coming elections, both in Ebonyi and other parts of the country.

    “Who ever wins the APC primaries, vote for APC. That is the beauty of democracy. No matter the number of candidates, only one person would emerge. All of us are operating in the party’s interest. This would bring about the change we are advocating, to lift the party. Please support the candidate, don’t vote for another party.

    “I am in Ebonyi to acquaint myself with the party’s problems in the state. So that if am opportuned by God’s and your grace, I will know how to solve the problems. Seeing is believing, not someone sitting down somewhere and urging for your votes and support.

    “I am here to tell you that your vote is your power,your road to prosperity and development. To change those who say they would govern us for the next 60 years. If you finish voting, don’t go, stay there and see that they are counted and recorded.”

     

  • Buhari, Atiku, Ogbeh decry attack

    Buhari, Atiku, Ogbeh decry attack

    ALL Progressives Congress’ (APC) presidential aspirants, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as well as the party’s chieftain, Chief Audu Ogbeh, have condemned the police invasion of the National Assembly.

    Buhari said: “If it is true that the House of Representatives has been attacked and the Speaker shot at, then those who are supposed to be protecting the constitution are subverting it. God help us.”

    Former Vice President Atiku said “the siege mentality of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration poses grave danger to the nation’s democracy.”

    He condemned what he called “the crude method” being used by the Jonathan administration to harass and humiliate perceived political enemies into submission.

    Atiku said the action would not augur well for the nation’s democracy.

    A statement from his media office in Abuja noted that considering the fact that the rule of law and the separation of power were enshrined in the constitution, invading the National Assembly amount to trampling on the duties of the legislature.

    He explained that with emergency rule failing to stem the unrest in the Northeast, the Federal Government must work with, rather than against those who understand and have been elected by the people to govern.

    He said the behaviour of the PDP-led government towards Tambuwal was not decent and acceptable under a president that has committed himself to uphold the rule of law, adding that the “crisis highlights the absolute failure of the current PDP’s idea of government: arrogant, indifferent and incompetent.”

    He stressed that abuse of power by using state agents to harass, intimidate and humiliate perceived opponents was not only capable of heating the polity on frightening scale, but also carried the risks of polarising and politicising security operatives in the country.

    “What is happening at the National Assembly taken together with what unfolded today (yesterday) at the Ekiti House of Assembly is totally strange. It is not the democracy we fought for; for which many of our compatriots paid for with their lives. These free-riders should not be allowed to destroy what others built with their sweat and blood,” Atiku said.

    Ogbeh, in his reaction, said: “That is lawlessness, where the police begin to interpret the constitution and bully a democratic institution. It is the beginning of anarchy.”

    Ogbeh suggested that President Goodluck Jonathan should push for the passage of an insurgency act, instead of seeking for an extension of emergency rule.

    He explained that with such an act in place, vigilantes and hunters working with the military would be legally backed to join in the fight.

  • Atiku makes case for public education

    Former Vice President and Founder, American University of Nigeria (AUN), Atiku Abubakar, has cautioned the Federal Government against regarding private education as a substitute for public education.

    He spoke at the ninth founder’s day celebration of the university which held last Saturday at the Lamido Aliyu Musdafa Commencement Hall of AUN in Yola.

    Atiku, who is seeking to run for the presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to adequately fund public education so Nigerians can access qualitative education.

    He said private education should supplement public education such that Nigerians patronise private schools because they want to and can afford it, and not because the public institutions are lacking.

    “Private education is not, should not and cannot be a substitute for proper government-financed public education.  Rather, private education should be supplementary and by choice for those who wish to and can afford to use its services.  Very good government must and should invest appropriately in public education for development to take root in our country.”

    At the event, Atiku was presented with the prestigious Harris Watford Global Citizen Award by the American Peace Corps Association.

    “No private businessman in Africa has worked harder for democracy or contributed more to the progress of higher education than Atiku Abubakar,” the group said.

    President of AUN, Prof Margee Ensign, said the purpose of the yearly Founder’s Day was to celebrate the founding, development, and remarkable progress of the development university.

    “AUN is a reflection of our Founder’s vision, and it has only been made possible by his extra-ordinary generosity. The AUN Community is particularly pleased to use this occasion to publicly thank its Founder, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, for making American University of Nigeria possible,” Ensign said.

    This year’s grand ceremony was marked with colourful procession, reflective speeches on the consequences of insurgency in the Northeast and the threat of Ebola, and achievement awards to deserving students, staff and outstanding friends of the university.

    Among the special guests in attendance were Prof. William Ellis Bertrand (keynote speaker), former Minister of Education and DG Atiku Campaign, Prof. Babalola Aborishade, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and elder statesman Otunba Oyewole Fasawe, an age-long friend of the founder.

     

  • Atiku lambasts Fayose’s ‘stomach infrastructure’

    Atiku lambasts Fayose’s ‘stomach infrastructure’

    Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has condemned Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose for “diluting” the sublime essence of governance.

    He spoke at the inauguration of a 32-bed hospital built by the member representing Ekiti Federal Constituency 1 at the House of Representatives, Bimbo Daramola.

    At the ceremony were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, former governors Kayode Fayemi, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and Segun Oni.

    Atiku praised Daramola for the project, urging the people to value education, health and infrastructural development.

    The former Vice-President said: “I believe Ekiti people don’t need stomach infrastructure. Would you forego education for stomach infrastructure? Would you forego healthcare for stomach infrastructure? Would you forgo infrastructural development for stomach infrastructure?

    “Today, Japan is the third largest economy in the world. They don’t have the farmland that you have in Ekiti but they have education and technology.

    “They have education and then technology. Anybody who is telling you all you need is a bag of rice, no, no, Ekiti people, no.”

    Atiku berated the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government for its failure to offer desirable leadership quality in the country, with unfriendly policies and programmes.

    “Certainly, Nigeria is not healthy. When you look at the economy and insecurity in the country, you will know that certainly, Nigeria is not healthy.”

    Regarding the June 21 election, Atiku hinted at the possibility of an earlier return of Dr. Kayode Fayemi as governor, noting “Fayemi is just on mid-term recess. He is coming back soon”.

    The presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) urged Nigerians to use the 2015 general election to bring desirable development to the country.

    “The only thing that can salvage Nigeria’s situation is to seize the opportunity of next year’s election to bring about change by voting in APC.”

    Tambuwal said with the quality of Daramola’s contributions as a lawmaker, he did not expect less from him. He urged other lawmakers to emulate him.

    Fayemi urged the people to give priority to infrastructural development.

    “For us as progressives, health is wealth. The health of our people matters to us than sharing of public money.”

    In respect of the June 21 election, Fayemi said: “Some miscreants were deployed in Ekiti from Abuja to rig the polls. My advice to my people is that they should keep the peace and that the truth will soon prevail.”

    Oni said the hospital would improve the life expectancy of the people.

  • Atiku donates $100, 000 to blood cancer patient

    Atiku donates $100, 000 to blood cancer patient

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has reportedly donated $100,000 to a Nigerian woman suffering from blood cancer.

    The Director, Atiku Media Organisation, Alhaji Garba Shehu said this at a media chat at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat in Abuja.

    Shehu said the victim, who was found on the Facebook social media got the aid and was operated in an Egyptian hospital.

    The gesture, according to him, was only a bit of philanthropic gestures of the former vice president.

    He stated that the presidential aspirant did not utilise the opportunities as campaign strategy, but rather kept the activities away from the public.

    “Atiku supported a Nigerian girl suffering from cancer of the blood in Egyptian hospital with $100,000 out of the $180,000 needed for the operation. He did not know the person. He just sighted her on the social media, Facebook, and they made the balance of $80, 000.

    “These things are coming from his heart, but he does not want it out. We in the media team have a duty to protect his integrity. He can make capital out of it politically because that’s what others are doing, but he does not want to talk about his philanthropy,” he said.

    On consensus, he said the APC was different from the ruling party in terms of promoting internal democracy.

    He, however, added that Atiku would be willing to support anyone who eventually emerges as the party’s flagbearer.

    “In APC, they want to do something different from the PDP. There is a process for the emergence of candidate through consensus and Atiku is in support of this. So, this country has been headed by people who have no focus, but we want to do things differently,” he stated.

  • Atiku: 70 per cent of northerners illiterate

    Atiku: 70 per cent of northerners illiterate

    Former Vice President and All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant Atiku Abubakar yesterday said 70 per cent of northerners were illiterates.

    He spoke in Abuja at the public presentation of a book, titled: Re-thinking the Legal Framework for the rights of Women and the Girl-Child in Nigeria”, written in honour of his wife, Titi.

    Atiku said 38 per cent of Nigerian women lacked formal education and only four per cent had higher education.

    He said girls constitute 60 per cent of the 10 million children out of school, regretting that many Nigerians marry off their female children “prematurely”, often without acquiring any education.

    Speaking on “Protecting the rights of women and the girl-child amid insecurity”, Atiku said: “There is no doubt that the rights of women and girls need to be protected and promoted. As a country, we are currently not doing enough in that regard, not in educating them, not in promoting and caring for their health, not in dealing with crimes against them such as rape, not in protecting child-labourers, of which girls tend to be in the majority as house-helps, not in reducing their sexual exploitation and trafficking by pimps and other criminal elements in society.

    “Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) believes that every child has a right to life, to education, to leisure, to recreational activities, to develop mentally and emotionally, and to protection from any form of harm.

    “Perhaps no greater harm can be done to a girl-child than denying her an education. And it is also a great harm to the society. Educating girls is vital because girls who acquire education tend to become better mothers, have fewer and healthier children.

    “Indeed, as UNICEF points out, every additional year of schooling reduces the probability of child mortality by five to 10 per cent. And if you look around your various communities you are likely to find that children whose mothers are educated tend to be educated too.

    “Figures from the United Nations, national reports and studies initiated by non-governmental organisations always show that girls have lower literacy rate, received less health care and are often more impoverished than boys. UNESCO estimates that over 100 million girls in low and middle income countries cannot read a sentence.”

  • OBJ visits IBB, hugs Atiku at airport

    OBJ visits IBB, hugs Atiku at airport

    Former president Olusegun Obasanjo on Tuesday visited former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, who just returned from a two month medical treatment in Germany.

    Obasanjo also met with his estranged deputy, Atiku Abubakar, at the Minna International Airport where the two leaders buried their differences and hugged each other.

    The Nation gathered that Obasanjo was in Minna to visit the recuperating Babangida, while Atiku who had visited the former military president was in the town to attend the presidential declaration of Sam Nda-Isaiah of All Progressive Congress (APC).

    Obasanjo, who arrived in a plane with registration number – GDOUR along with Senator Andy Uba, Chief Ayo Fashawe and a unidentified lady at about 4:30pm was about to be conveyed to Babangida’s house when his attention was drawn to the presence of Atiku at the airport.

    The former vice president who was already seated, awaiting clearance for his flight, stopped the pilot, alighted and headed straight to the car ferrying Obasanjo out of the airport and the two leaders hugged each other.

    A black BMW car with registration number – ABJ 01 RJ then took Obasanjo to the uphill residence of the former military president in company of Mohammed Babangida.

     

  • …attack, bad omen for Nigeria — Atiku

    …attack, bad omen for Nigeria — Atiku

    The former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has condemned the recent Boko Haram overrun of Mubi and the hoisting of their flag in Adamawa State’s second largest town, as a tragic act and a worrisome affront to the corporate integrity of Nigeria.

    The Turaki Adamawa, who was abroad when the sordid incident took place in his home state on Wednesday, October 29, told a group of journalists on arrival yesterday that: “With what I have gathered so far from online news reports and other sources from Mubi town,  the situation is very unfortunate and undermining for our country.”

    The visibly angry statesman also said: “If the reports are true that the Armed Forces had abandoned their assigned duty posts a few days before the overrun, it was an indication that the attack was not sudden after all. If the soldiers also left behind their ammunition and armoured carriers at the mercy of predatory insurgents, it raises a question of complicity in the sordid episode.”

    He described as most unfortunate a situation where unsuspecting civilians who had relied on security agencies for their protection and were expecting an improvement in their security status as a result of the announced ceasefire, were suddenly left defenceless  at the mercy of the marauders.

    Atiku, who said he was not a conspiracy theory convert, did not hesitate to frown on the undercurrent of connivance that might have fuelled the sudden retreat of the military in the face of imminent invasion of a vital commercial town, less than three hours away from Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

    “No Commander-in-Chief or  General that is worth his salt will surrender his territory with folded arms and running heels.

    “On every occasion that leaders from the North East raised the alarm about the dangerous trend, we have either been ignored or called names.

    “If there’s any iota of truth in the suspicion of the people that they were deliberately abandoned, then it becomes a dangerous trend and a bad omen for Nigeria and all Nigerians,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the former Vice President said he was heading for Yola to meet with those managing the displaced people and see what assistance he could render to reduce the sufferings of the people.

  • Atiku: APC is committed to internal democracy

    Atiku: APC is committed to internal democracy

    Former Vice President and a presidential aspirant of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, has said that the party was committed to the principles of internal democracy.

    He assured that the APC would not impose candidate in any elective position in the general elections.

    Addressing some elders of the party from Nasarawa State at his residence, the former vice president assured that the party would apply the principle of internal democracy in every elective position, where the party fields candidates in all future elections.

    Atiku said the principle of internal democracy was well-entrenched in the APC and it was the pivot upon which the party was built, adding: “I have been an ardent advocate of internal democracy in party system through my political career and that is what the APC also stands for.

    “I must say that a lot of times, I have been misunderstood. But my insistence on free and transparent primaries is not about me, but because of thousands of our party members, who should be allowed to exercise their most fundamental right of being members of a political party – the right to contest.

    “Our great party, the APC is built on the pivot of internal democracy and that is why you see that the party is attracting new membership by the day”, he said.

  • Photo: Buhari, Atiku at Amaechi rally

    Former Vice President and presidential aspirant of All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar and Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), presidential contender at the 7th anniversary celebration of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, of Rivers State in Port Harcourt on Saturday.
    Former Vice President and presidential aspirant of All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar and Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), presidential contender at the 7th anniversary celebration of Governor Rotimi Amaechi, of Rivers State in Port Harcourt on Saturday.