Atiku Tackles Osinbajo on Restructuring • Insists he is not corrupt

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 as with 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 Tuesday in Abuja by Atiku Campaign Organisation, Osinbajo had written to Premium Times in response to an essay on restructuring authored by Atiku.

Osinbajo had also recently said 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, Professor Yemi 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 that he spoke against ‘geographic restructuring.’

 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, helps 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 elections , 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 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, the height, and wherewithal. Our prayer is that it will not be an effort in futility.”