Buhari vs Atiku, 2019: We have no Preferred Candidate- USA

The United States of America (USA) has said that it has no preferred candidate in the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria in 2019.

Mr Phillip Franz, a political officer in the U.S. embassy in Nigeria, said this during a visit to Katsina State Government House on Wednesday in Katsina.

Franz said that the USA was, however, interested in the electoral processes that would ensure credible elections.

“We want to emphasise that the U.S. has no candidate in this election; our candidate is the process; we very much respect the sovereignty of the country,” he said

He therefore assured the support of the USA to Nigeria in conducting free, fair and transparent elections in 2019.

“We will support peaceful electoral process and we stand to provide whatever assistance in order to see free fair, transparent and credible election in Nigeria in 2019,” he said.(NAN)

2019 Presidency: Atiku and the PDP Inner War

Some presidential candidate hopefuls of the main opposition party in Nigeria have vowed to battle decampee, Atiku for the 2019 ticket. 

The political tremor set off by the return of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to the Peoples Democratic Party, where, it is widely believed, he would seek the 2019 presidential ticket, may not ease off soon.

 

Since his defection to the party about two weeks ago, political alignments and realignments have been ongoing within the PDP and between some members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and some PDP members.

 

Although the then PDP leadership under former Kaduna State governor, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, was alleged to have provided him a “soft landing” by dissolving the Adamawa State caretaker committee, to enable Atiku’s men take over the structure of the party while still hanging on in the APC at the time, the statement from the party’s leadership shortly after his defection that there was no automatic ticket for the Adamawa-born politician is a clear indication that Atiku is not likely to get the ticket on a gold platter.

 

Neither would his ambition dim the light on the aspiration of other members of the party, who are also believed to be interested in seeking the presidential ticket.

 

Interestingly, the Makarfi was the first man who came out in the open to say that Atiku posed no threat to any of the presidential hopefuls on the platform of the PDP.

 

Although he has not formally signified interest in the race, Sunday Sun can authoritatively confirm that Makarfi will run.

 

Barely 72 hours to the PDP national convention, there had been reports in sections of the media insinuating Makarfi had interest in seeking to fly the PDP’s flag in 2019. Makarfi dismissed the insinuation in the media reports as not true.

 

In a statement signed on his behalf by his spokesman, Mukhtar Zubairu Sirajo, the former Kaduna State governor said: “The fact is that the senator was asked what threat the return of Atiku Abubakar to the party portends to the aspirations of others who had either made their intentions known or those, who, like him were rumoured to be nursing such ambition.

“His answer was that Atiku’s return would not, in any way adversely affect the rights of any member of the party to aspire to any position, adding that there were no preconditions to the return as Atiku Abubakar did not ask for, neither did the party offer any concessions to him beforehand.

“Senator Ahmed Makarfi wishes to assure the teeming members and supporters of the PDP and indeed the entire country that his own major preoccupation at the moment is to discharge the responsibility given to him to lead the process of repositioning the party, which he hopes will culminate in the conduct of a very credible and transparent convention. This is what matters the most to him at this moment.”

 

After the convention penultimate Saturday, sources close to him confirmed to Sunday Sun that he would indeed run and that he would make the intention known at the appropriate time.

 

Asked further if Makarfi does not feel threatened by Atiku’s return to the PDP, one of the sources said that there was no way Atiku could stop Makarfi’s ambition.

 

“He has always believed that power belongs to God. In 2007, when PDP governors rooted for him, but someone else was chosen, he fell in line like a good party man that he is and behaved as if nothing happened. He supported the person that was chosen because he believes you cannot get something by force. So he will go into the contest with the same disposition,” the source added.

 

On his part former Jigawa State governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, who has since notified party stakeholders and has visited former Nigerian leaders and consulted and still consulting with prominent Nigerians, including former defence minister, General TY Danjuma (retd), told Sunday Sun that if Allah says he would be the next president after President Muhammadu Buhari, nothing can change it.

 

Reacting through one of his aides, Kyari Jitau, the former governor noted that from day one he knew that he would not be the only one seeking the party’s ticket and was, therefore, prepared to compete with anyone.

 

“Recall the event of his meeting with state chairmen of the party. He said he knew others would also join in the race, but urged the stakeholders to ensure that they choose the best for the party and for the country.

“And at the risk of sounding immodest I don’t see anyone who is capable of constituting a threat to him in the party. Historically, he started politics before all of them. Therefore, ideologically, he stands out. We have seen what he can do with his experiment in Jigawa. That is why they refer to him as a good repairer. So we need him to help repair Nigeria.

“Like some analysts say, PDP needs someone who can break the votes in Kano and Kaduna axis. Alhaji Sule Lamido looks good to make that happen. He is a party man to the core. He’s got the political capacity and sagacity to turn the tide against the APC if given the opportunity by the party. So we leave everything to God and to the party. Only God gives power,” Kyari declared.

 

Former Kano State governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, said he was battle ready. And like others, he also said the ultimate decision rested with God.

 

Speaking through his media aide, Sule Ya’u Sule, the 2011 presidential candidate on the platform of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), said: “We are battle ready. We ran in 2003 for governorship, we had no money, but we won. We ran in 2007 for a second term, and despite the odds against us, God made it possible. We have run for the presidency before and so we are not threatened by Atiku’s return to the PDP. Ultimately it is the electorate that will decide. We rely on God and not anyone else. We are in the race, there is no going back,” he said.

 

Long before former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he left no one in doubt that he was prepared to run for the presidency again in 2019.

 

Sunday Sun gathered that Atiku had sought to “seize” the structure of the party in the state to avoid a repeat of what happened to him in 2011 and 2015 at the PDP and APC presidential primaries respectively.

 

In 2011, Atiku lost Adamawa State delegates to the then President Goodluck Jonathan as Murtala Nyako, the then governor, ensured that all the delegates voted for Jonathan. Again in 2015, Atiku lost Adamawa delegates to his rivals. All these, it was further learnt, made him reason that once he had control of the party in the state, it would be easy to get their loyalty and votes.

 

Regardless, Atiku needs more than Adamawa delegates to pick the coveted PDP presidential ticket.

Tori News

2019 Presidential Election: Atiku Announces His Ambition

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has reportedly met with the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to discuss his presidential ambition in the year 2019. 

The Leadership reports that the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar of Nigeria is still nursing his ambition to be the President of Nigeria in the year 2019.

 

He aroused the suspicions of the general public by an August visit to the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) , Chief John Odigie-Oyegun at the party’s secretariat in Abuja, yesterday, 18th of July, 2016.

Atiku, who has not visited the APC secretariat since the last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in April this year with President Muhammadu Buhari also in attendance, came with the full complement of his media team however, he did not speak to journalists who were waiting to interview him.

Atiku, who entered the national secretariat of APC at 12:50 unannounced, came in the company of the Adamawa State governor, Muhammad Bindow Jibrila, even as they walked straight to the national chairman’s office.

Chief Oyegun and his visitors met behind closed doors for about 20 minutes before they allowed other national officers into the meeting.

When newsmen sought to know reasons for the sudden visit, it was gathered that Atiku actually came to familiarise himself with the party leaders ahead of the party’s presidential primary in 2019.

 

Atiku may have Buhari to contend with again in the next 3 years after losing to him in the party primaries in the year 2014.

Tori NEWS

Atiku, El-Rufai In War Of Words Over NITEL Sale

A verbal feud has begun between a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar and the governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai, over the controversial Pentascope deal through which the federal government tried to privatise Nigeria’s telecoms carrier, the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).

The two politicians have been throwing verbal missiles at each while also accusing each other of corruption in a deal many believed was fraught with corruption, Abusidiqu reports.

El-Rufai who was the minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had in his book “The Accidental Public Servant”, shot the first jibe at Atiku suggesting that as chairman of the National Council on Privatization (NCP), he meddled in the privatisation of NITEL which ultimately truncated the process.
El-Rufai alleged that Atiku’s aggressiveness evidenced by his intrusion suggested that he had monetary interest in some of the deals.

However, Atiku who was entrusted with the responsibility of managing the privatization programme fired back saying that the former minister was bitter because a particular bidder, Motorola, lost out in one of the transactions.

According to The Punch, Atiku said: “the fact of the contract are like this: Obasanjo agreed with the NCP that the former BPE DG was wrong not to have disclosed his interest and that he had failed the test of transparency by not disclosing that his brother was on the board of Motorola.”

“You know, for instance, that it is a very serious offence to fail, refuse or neglect to disclose your interest whether directly or through someone else, in dealing with such an important transaction. But, the President in his wisdom decided that the contract be split into three, with each of the contenders, Motorola, Ericsson and the Chinese company – I think Huawei – taking a portion. As if to vindicate the NCP, by 2007 when we left office, the two others apart from Motorola had completed their own contracts. You can go and find out if they (Motorola) have finished,” he said.

The former vice president said that he would like Nigerians to be smart enough to read between the lines. He inquired why the former FCT minister treats the Motorola issue with such persistent personal bitterness and why he is making it a heavy matter.

Attiku said that anybody can play to the gallery and deceive the people. He noted that transparency is a key issue of conducting any business, including privatisation. “Conflict of interest is inconsistent with transparency,” he said.

“If you are a privatisation head and you have a relationship with a particular person connected with one of the companies making bids, it is a moral and legal duty to disclose that relationship or interest. Pretending that you have no relationship with the person who is rooting for a particular bidder is not altogether tidy and transparent. If he had no interest in a particular company for sentimental reasons, why is he making too much fuss about Motorola losing the bid?” Atiku pointed.

However, Atiku’s comment has sparked El-Rufai’s fury thereby coming out to fire on all cylinders, pointedly accusing the former vice president of manipulating the deal.

Muyiwa Adekeye, media advisor to El-Rufai said in a statement that:“It is understandable that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar would be enduring some unease at the disclosures made in ‘The Accidental Public Servant’, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s recent book.”

According to Adekeye, Atiku’s media team had made a vain effort to confuse Nigerians about his “serial interference with contract award processes” detailed in El-Rufai’s book, claiming in series of rebuttals that Atiku did not meddle in the privatisation processes. To him such claims are at variance with the substance of established facts that the former vice president used his position to seek contracts for friends.

In the statement, Adekele said: “now that Atiku himself has spoken on the controversial NITEL GSM contract involving Ericsson and Motorola, it is obvious that the attempt at confusing issues persists,” the statement said. It is untrue that the NITEL GSM contract in question was split. Rather it was awarded to Ericsson, but at the lower price submitted by Motorola, because of Atiku’s intense lobby and smears deployed to advance Ericsson’s bid. Atiku and Abdullahi Yari, his then ADC, at different times spoke to El-Rufai to favour Ericsson.”

He challenged Atiku to take up the “responsibility to explain why he became an Ericsson salesman, although the investigations conducted by Motorola after the debacle makes clear he was not engaged in an altruistic mission.”

Adekeye said that the incident had diplomatic repercussions, as the American government wrote to protest this loss by an American company that had submitted the cheaper bid.

On the one hand, Adekeye denied Atiku’s insistence that El-Rufai’s brother was a shareholder and member of Motorola’s board. On another hand, El-Rufai’s spokesman said on the issue of Pentascope that they see the same pattern of muddying the waters with falsehood. He pointed out that as chairman of the NCP, “Atiku gave his approval in writing on 21 February 2003 for the management contract with Pentascope to be signed.”

Mr Adekeye insisted that for the records, NITEL never made any huge profits as claimed by the Atiku camp, as it had never paid a single dividend to the Federal Government until the BPE compelled it to pay N3b in 2001.

Recently, El-Rufai had declared war on houses built on the land of the public institutions; yet, some of the owners of demolished buildings will be compensated.

naij.com

Tinubu And Atiku Have Begun 2019 Presidential Battle

The present unrest in the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been described as an outright battle for the 2019 presidency.

A report credited to Global Village Extra, quoted civil rights lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) to have revealed that the infighting in the ruling APC was a battle for the control of the soul of the party ahead of the 2019 elections, hence the friction among the party stalwarts.

Ozekhome noted that the battle is between the camp of former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

The emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki  and Yakubu Dogara as the senate president and house of representatives speaker respectively, against the wish of the party, has exposed the discord in the ruling party.

This has led many observers and analysts to request the sanction of Saraki and Dogara, just as the leadership of the APC described the election of the NASS leadership as gross indiscipline with a promise to sanction the new principal officers for not following the party’s directive on the election of principal officers of the National Assembly.

According to Ozekhome, the disarray in the different camps is centered around the fact that president Muhammadu Buhari may be too old to run for office by 2019, and with power likely to remain in the north, the different groups are trying to firm up their grip and affluence in the party.

“What we are seeing is the battle for 2019. It is a straight fight between the Atiku camp and Bola Tinubu’s camp. The thinking is that Buhari will be too old to run for office by then so the camps want to consolidate their grip on power before then,” the lawyer said, warning that failure to address the issue amicably would damage the survival and success of the party.

Recall that Atiku was recently sighted with some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, having a nice time with people who were supposed to be in he opposition.

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