Real Reasons Atiku Went To The US

Photos and videos of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate arriving the United States took over the social media on Thursday. The visit was of course a three-dimensional thing. 

The former Vice President, apart from using the visit to correct the notion that he was a wanted man in the United States, would be meeting with US Government officials. He would also meet with members of the business community, with whom he would discuss ways of making the Nigerian economy more viable through the creation of more opportunities.

The PDP candidate will also meet with Nigerians community in Washington DC. He is thus using the visit to drum up international support for his presidential bid as well as harness some business opportunities in preparation for becoming President.

In an interview with BBC on Wednesday, Atiku had expressed confidence that he would win next month’s presidential election. Though he said he doubted if the election would be free, fair and credible, he called on the international community to help ensure the credibility of the electoral process.

Atiku arrived Washington DC with the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, who doubles as the Director-General of his presidential campaign on Thursday.

Findings revealed that Atiku kept the visit away from his media aides in order to give his opponents the satisfaction of making assumptions.

By the time the news of his arrival broke, some media organizations quoted his media aides as saying they were unaware he undertook any trip.

In no time, some organizations went on to dispel what they called rumours of Atiku in America.

The trip would not have generated much attention but for the issue raised by the former Vice President’s antagonists that he had a fraud case hanging on his neck in the United States. It became a campaign matter with many daring Atiku to visit to the US.

There were even protests that he should apply for American visa. The story then was that Atiku would be arrested if he ever set foot on American soil. By the time news filtered out that Atiku had approached the United States Embassy, it again became an issue as some protested. Those who had earlier dared him to set foot on American soil changed gear and asked the US Government to decline his visa application so that it would not appear that he had the support of the United States. They called on the American government to be ‘fair’ to all candidates.

What many believed would have been political suicide is fast proving to be an irrefutable evidence of courage.

“Women Will Form an Important Part of My Government”, Atiku Assures

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Demicratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has assured that women will not be relegated to the background when he 

becomes President. He went on to assure that they would form a critical part of his government if voted into power. Abubakar also vowed to provide jobs for youths. This, he said will give their mothers peace of mind.

Atiku Abubakar made the promises when he met the women’s wing of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) on Friday.

Atiku, who spoke on the importance of women in nation building, said “women are at the heart of our families, businesses and communities. This is why one of my first exclusive events this campaign was with the women of our party today, to discuss my policy and plans for them.

Mothers are most concerned about the direction of our economy. If our children cannot get jobs, mothers cannot sleep. My job as president will be to bring peace of mind to mothers all over Nigeria, by ensuring their children can find jobs”.

“I’ll privatize NNPC, even if it would cost my life”- Atiku

The Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has said that would privatize the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation if elected. Atiku, who made the assertion while speaking at an interactive session with the business community on Wednesday in Lagos, described the state-owned oil firm as a “mafia organization.”

He said he would effect the privatization even if it would cost him his life.

He said, “Let me go back to my experience. When we got into office, I walked up to my boss and said, “Sir, there are two mafia organizations in government: one is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation while the other one is the National Electricity Power Authority.

“I said unless we dismantle these mafia organizations, we cannot make progress. Let’s privatize them… the long and short of this is that I am committed to privatization as I have said. I swear even if they are going to kill me, I will do it (privatize NNPC).”

The former Vice President explained that his opinion was influenced by the model in the United States. He said, “I asked a Nigerian professor based in America; I said, ‘Prof, do you have a ministry of petroleum in America?’ He said no. I said, ‘Do you have an organization like the NNPC over there?’ He said no. And America produces oil more than any country? He said yes.

“So I asked him, ‘How do they do it in America?’ and he said taxation, and I decided that I will go by taxation too.”

Abubakar went on to speak on job creation; “we must create jobs, if not we will get mobbed one day by the unemployed youths. They are like a time bomb. When businesses are folding up, shops are closing, industries are falling, foreign direct investments are not attracted; poverty is embarrassingly becoming our trademark, the rating of our hardworking businessmen by international rating agencies is becoming dismal.

“When we have a government that has remained insensitive to all these, I feel it is the time not only to offer myself for service to salvage the situation but also to reiterate my aim to create a strong, resilient and prosperous economy that creates jobs and opportunities for all of us.”

Atiku Expresses Doubts on Conduct of Free and Credible Election

Nigeria’s former Vice President and Peoples Presidential Democratic Party’s presidential candidate has expressed worry on the credibility of next month’s presidential election.

In an interview with BBC’s Mayen Jones, monitored on Thursday, Atiku, who is seen as President Buhari’s number one challenger, was asked what he would do if he loses the election. “The point is that I am not even going to lose but everybody knows that I have always accepted if I lost in the past, but this time, I am not going to lose”, he replied.

Asked if he expects next month’s election to be free and fair, Atiku said “that is no, because I have not seen any evidence that this government is actually willing to offer a free, fair and credible electoral process. We have seen what they have done in their by-elections where they have deployed members, police; security forces sometimes to harass voters, sometimes to raid voters that they believe are for the opposition”.

On his concerns for the fairness of the election, Atiku Abubakar said “we are working hard and that is why I am appealing to the international community also to work together with us to make sure the elections are not only seen to be free, credible and fair, but they are actually are”.

And if the results don’t go the way he thinks they would go, Atiku said “we will of course consider what went wrong and if we consider what went wrong. If it is something that requires rectification by way of litigation, or any other thing, we will go there in a peaceful way”.

When it was pointed out that Nigeria has two main political parties, and that it may be a two party system, the former Vice President said “it is a very young democracy, it is evolving. It is not fully developed and it is still developing”.

The PDP presidential candidate, who described Nigeria’s democracy as “a developing democratic process”, was asked why he thinks he should be president when about 60% of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 65. “I am not stopping anybody who wants to be president”. Pushing further, the journalist asked if Atiku shouldn’t be clearing the way for a younger candidate. His response was straight. “I am not stopping any young man from vying, and there are so many of them. So why do you want to bring discrimination here because of my age? If I feel like I have the health, the strength, the capacity to do it, why should it be an issue?”

He also spoke on how he would tackle the issue of insurgency if elected. “I intend to sit down with the leadership of the armed forces, then review the operations over the years to know whether the operations were successful or not and how we can review them to make sure they are effective and defeat Boko Haram within the shortest possible time”.

When the journalist asked whether Atiku thought the army was doing enough, hi responded that “I don’t think the armed forces generally are doing enough, not just the army.  What I think is responsible is the fatigued leadership in the armed forces. They have been there for too long, they have no new idea. You are deprived of a younger generation of leadership that has the necessary skill and training that could be deployed in the operations of the armed forces”.