Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the Presidential declaration of the former military head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The former vice president, who is also a Presidential aspirant on the same platform, described the decision as a welcomed idea.
This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the former vice president, a copy obtained by Vanguard.
The duo who are the chieftains of the APC, are contesting for the party’s ticket to run for the 2015 general elections. Atiku stated that the task of rescuing Nigeria is a duty leaders of the APC are committed to saying: “The more individuals ready to be part of the mission to rescue the country, the better.”
He said the country has floundered for far too long, and pointed out that the citizens are yearning for a change, which APC must listen to before they lose faith in the ability of their leaders to revive the country.
“You will recall that during my declaration speech penultimate week, I did mention that my priority, if given the chance to run and serve as the President of Nigeria is addressing the issues of jobs creation and providing decent employment for Nigerians, especially the youths,” he said.
Atiku expressed optimism that it is only when decent jobs are provided for the youths, that the people can have hope for the decent future for our country.
“It is also not in doubt that of recent, successive administrations have failed woefully in building the infrastructure that can promote a healthy economy: our education system is in shambles, public health system is in virtual comatose, we have very poor network of roads totally at variance with the wealth of a country that is the seventh oil producer in the world.
“I believe that the country has failed in these areas because of the excessive centralisation of functions and resources to the government at the centre. The government that the APC plans to lead in the next few months, by the grace of God, will be fully committed to devolution of powers and resources to the state governments in line with the manifesto of our great party,” he said.
The former vice president further hinted that he intends to march the aforementioned resolution with a full commitment in order to make sure there is transparency in all the sectors of the people’s life. He also expressed worries over the manner the people were divided along ethnic and religious fault lines, pointing out that Nigeria is gradually and dangerously losing a sense of community where people can live together without mutual suspicion.
“I believe that the next president of our country, who by the grace of God will be produced by our great party, must be someone who is a unifier, bridge-builder and not someone who bears ethno-religious bias. Above all, he must embody a vision of a Nigeria for all. I have no doubt in my mind that we both share a common concern about rescuing our country from the deadly grip of the PDP and it is on this note that I do warmly welcome him on board in this very important national rescue mission. I look forward to meeting him in an open, free and fair contest for the ticket,” Atiku said.
Meanwhile, on October 1, 2014, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s former Head of State reportedly expressed confidence that Nigerians will vote out the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015.
It would be recalled that the two major contestants under the APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, reportedly clashed recently following their divers opinion over the procedure for adopting the 2015 presidential candidate for the party.
Also, the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar earlier declared his intention to run for presidency on September 24, 2014.
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