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.”
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