Tinubu, APC Leaders Resist Entreaties from Buhari to Attend Declaration Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, and state governors of the party, are having a hard time rebuffing the pressure being mounted on them to attend the formal presidential declaration of one of the leading contenders of the party and former military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari Investigations revealed that as at Saturday, Buhari was yet to secure a commitment from any of the leaders of the party to attend his declaration, which is scheduled for Wednesday. It was gathered that the reluctance of the APC leaders to yield to pressure from Buhari was based on the understanding that leaders of the party had agreed to be non-partisan in the processes through which the presidential standard-bearer of the party would emerge. It was for this reason that none of the national leaders of the party was in attendance during the declaration of another presidential hopeful in the party, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Accordingly, the leaders are withholding any commitment on their attendance of the Buhari declaration. Sources further revealed that the leaders of the party had told Buhari about their reservations in attending his declaration tomorrow, so as to have a rancour-free presidential primary election in the party. It was learnt that the leaders of the party made their position known to Buhari at the wedding ceremony of the daughter of Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, in Owerri on Saturday. Nonetheless, the Buhari camp continues to push for a consensus arrangement that will make the retired general emerge as the standard-bearer of the opposition party. It is also the thinking of his campaign organisation that mobilising the national leaders of the party to attend his formal declaration would send a strong message to his co-contestants that he is the anointed candidate of the party for the presidential election. According to one source, “It now appears certain that the national leaders of the party will not be attending the declaration of General Buhari on Wednesday. “The declaration was meant to have been last Wednesday, October 8, but was postponed because the day coincided with the grand finale rally of the party before the aborted Adamawa State by-election. “It was expected that the national leaders of the party who were being expected to attend the declaration would be at the campaign rally in Adamawa. “But despite the postponement of the declaration till this week, we are yet to secure any commitment from principal leaders of the party to attend the event. “The reason the leaders are giving for not attending the event is based on an understanding not to be overtly partisan in the run-up to the presidential primary of the party in which they are expected to be umpires.” However, despite the difficulty Buhari appears to be having getting the leaders of the party to attend his declaration ceremony, the minor setback has not deterred the former head of state from soliciting the support and consulting with crucial members of the party who will determine his fate at the primary election. Speaking yesterday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, after holding a closed-door meeting with Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, Buhari said his intention to take another shot at the presidency was to ensure that the country is secure and its economy efficiently managed. He said: “It is disheartening that the nation’s economy is not being properly managed. I am sure you know what has happened and what has been happening. I believe what Nigerians need now is to be secured and efficiently managed.” On his desire to take another shot at the presidency, Buhari said: “I contested three times, I lost three times and I ended up in Supreme Court three times. But we thank God the constitution does not limit how many times you can contest once you are 18 and above. “I have done it before on different platforms from 1999 till now. But this is the APC platform and I will like to use the opportunity through my party, through the system, to secure and efficiently manage Nigeria.” On the consensus arrangement being propagated by his campaign team, he said: “We want a fair playing field for everybody. But if there is consensus agreement, it is well and good. It would save time and resources, but if people insist on making sure that all those that wanted to lead should present themselves and let the people decide, it is all well and good. The system allows it.” On the withdrawal of former Governor of Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, from APC presidential primary, Buhari said: “I read it in the newspapers. I didn’t ask him to step down for me. It is his own decision.” He called on the electorate to join hands with the APC to bring change to the economic and political development of the country come 2015. Meanwhile, the former vice-president became the first aspirant on the APC platform to purchase the party’s presidential nomination form. Atiku, who handed over a bank draft for N27.5 million to the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Oyegun, for both the expression of interest form and nomination form, said what mattered most to him was gaining the endorsement and acceptance of Nigerians. After being the first to declare his presidential bid, the ex-vice-president also took the initiative yesterday to formerly engage the media on the economic policies he would like to pursue if elected president of Nigeria, next year. He used the opportunity to announce that he would be hosting a policy review summit on October 27 at the Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta. According to Atiku, he intends to assemble a panellist of experts who will fine-tune the elemental details of the Atiku 2015 policy document, adding that a draft policy would be reviewed and drawn up within the context of the manifesto of the APC. Speaking at a short ceremony marking the collection of the nomination form, the former vice-president expressed the desire to see that all processes leading to the selection of APC candidates for the 2015 elections were done with fairness and in a transparent manner. “Mr. Chairman, I need to let you know my political antecedents as far as the provision of a level playing field for every member of this party because that is the only thing or one of the things that will make us different from the so-called ruling party. “Anybody who believes he has a democratic right to exercise should be given that opportunity to exercise that right. It is left to the members of this party and the Nigerian public to make a decision. I don’t think it is the responsibility of anyone of us as an individual or group to decide for this party or its membership for the people of this country. “As leaders, we have a responsibility to guide those coming behind but the guidance should be based on this firmly rooted democratic principle. Mr. Chairman, therefore it is my singular honour and privilege to hand over to you or your representative two receipts: one, presidential expression of interest and the second one, presidential nomination form all totalling N27.5 million,” he said. He enjoined the leadership to continue to ensure that there is equity and justice in the affairs of the party, adding that nobody can decide for Nigerians who they want to be their leader. In his response, Oyegun assured Atiku that the party leadership would do everything possible to ensure that the right candidate who will satisfy the yearnings of Nigerians emerges at the primaries. “We are also looking forward to a contest at our presidential primary that will be totally rancour-free and that at the end of it, only one candidate that is the best will emerge. “We hope that that winner will be the one that can salvage the nation. No sacrifice will be too great for any of the aspirants to make in order to ensure that Nigerians become the pride of black nations. “As we present the form to you, we pray that God will give to Nigerians that president that will work for the interest of the country and will make Nigeria to be the envy of the global community,” he said. In an apparent reference to the issue of endorsement arising from the recent visit by Tinubu, the former vice-president said he was not perturbed by individual endorsements, adding that the endorsement that is important is that given by Nigerians during the election. Earlier, while presenting his economic blueprint, Atiku said he was prepared to grant conditional tax rebates to local and foreign investors who can guarantee mass employment for Nigerians if elected president in the 2015 general election. The key policy areas include employment generation and wealth creation, infrastructure, power, education, skills acquisition, security, citizenship and governance, agriculture, food security, Niger Delta and North-east re-integration. He said he would further deregulate the economy by stimulating private sector participation as well as offer incentives to boost Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country. Atiku promised to modify the way the machinery of the federal government works by, among other things, clarifying and streamlining MDAs remits and responsibilities; removing overlaps and operational redundancies; systematically devolving and delegating operational responsibilities to states and local governments, and private sector organisations (commercial and charitable). He said he would address habits and practices that currently compromise policy implementation; enshrining good governance as the hallmark of his administration as well as ensuring that solutions can be implemented, monitored and evaluated. The former vice-president who also noted that the country’s job creation record had been “very bad”, stressed that only a remarkable improvement in employment generation could ensure that growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) trickles down to the common people. Asked what he would do to revive the nation’s refineries and fix power, Atiku said nothing meaningful could be achieved unless the so-called “mafia” in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the power sector is dismantled. “When we came in, I told my boss then, President (Olusegun Obasanjo) that there are two mafias in this country – NEPA and NNPC – and unless you break these mafias you will never get those two institutions to work. “Unfortunately up till now, we have not been able to break them, so one thing you must do is to be prepared to dismantle the mafia in NEPA, which up till now has decided not to allow us to have sufficient power and also the mafia in NNPC,” he said. Via primechronicle
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 07:51:13 +0000
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