Vice President Atiku Abubakar has told former military rulers contesting the presidential race such as Ibrahim Babangida and Muhammadu Buhari to drop their presidential ambitions and allow him run. “They should step down for me as their junior brother, since both of them had occupied the position before,” Atiku said.
He also dropped hints that he may dump the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when he said he was yet to decide the platform on which he would seek the 2007 presidency.
Speaking at a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum yesterday in Abuja, the Vice President reasoned that since Buhari and Babangida were former Heads of State, they should give another person the opportunity to serve in that capacity.
He further stated that since the two men were also older than him, they should allow their younger brother to take a shot at the Presidency, just as his aides alleged that the PDP leadership was mobilising the youth wing of the party to embarrass the Vice President.
On why he had been holding meetings with the two, Atiku said it had nothing to do with picking a consensus candidate from the North, but an effort to ensure the survival of democracy in Nigeria.
He said the meetings were convened to discuss how to scuttle the third term bid, give necessary support to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and ensure credible elections in 2007.
The Vice President, who said the group last met about three months ago, assured that the three leaders would continue to work toward achieving such objectives.
Speaking on insinuations that his supporters had deserted him since he started having political problems with President Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku said his political structures were still intact.
He disclosed that the PDM (Peoples Democratic Movement) structure he inherited from his political mentor, late Gen. Shehu Yar' Adua, was still in place and dared anybody to mention his political ally that had abandoned him.
He also said many of the state governors who appear to have backed out on him, would soon start to throw their weights behind him.
Atiku called on the media, security agencies and civil society groups to work towards ensuring free and fair election, while INEC should be empowered to perform its duties creditably.
The Vice President also told the gathering that he was yet to decide on which party platform he would run as a presidential candidate in 2007 elections, adding that he was also not likely to announce the name of the party on Saturday, when he is expected to formally launch his presidential campaign.
He however, said a decision on the issue would be made public very soon. When pressed further, the Vice-President said he was still a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding: “Remember, I was suspended, and not sacked by the party”.
He said he was confident that his indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), as well as the Administrative Panel of Inquiry, would be quashed by the courts.
He stated that he had discussed the case with his lawyers and was quite confident he would eventually be cleared by the courts.
Meanwhile, aides of the Vice President have alleged that the PDP leadership was mobilising the youth wing of the party to embarrass the Vice President.
A statement issued yesterday, signed by Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, and made available to THISDAY in Abuja stated that the party, all along, had devised different strategies to sustain a campaign of calumny, hoard, intimidate and harass both the Vice President and his personal aides.
Some of the moves allegedly targeted against Atiku include the non-revalidation of his PDP membership, sacking of all his aides, the administrative panel set up to investigate him on the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) contracts, as well as court cases against him, despite that under the Nigerian constitution, he is supposed to be enjoying immunity.
According to Eze, “the latest act is to mobilise PDP youths to embarrass the Vice President by planning to embark in an exercise in futility by staging a worthless one million man march for the impeachment of the Vice President.”
Eze who described the move as undemocratic affirmed, “If they must organise this march, they should instead use it to canvass for the impeachment of President Olusegun Obasanjo who have turned our country into a lawless, lack of respect for our constitution, abuse of human rights, corrupt, unsecured, crises prone country.”
While noting that the Vice President was unmoved by all the scheming and machinations against him, Eze stressed that everybody in the current government should know that “their days in governance are being numbered.”
