Muslim-Muslim ticket: Ensuring religious balance in a multi ethno- religious country important – Atiku

 

 

OBIORA IFOH, Abuja 

 

Former vice president and the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar has condemned the ruling party’s decision not to ensure a religious balancing in the choice of it’s vice presidential candidate.

 

Atiku said that the Muslim Muslim ticket will not ensure religious balance in a multi ethno- religious country like Nigeria.

 

Speaking on Arise News Channels, Friday, Atiku said it was the insistence of a Muslim -Muslim ticket that caused the political separation between him and Bola Ahmed Tinubu when he contested on the platform of the Action Congress in 2007.

 

He explained that much as he opposed the Muslim Muslim ticket, he still stand on it today insisting it will not promoted unity, saying, “I don’t think it is right for a multi ethnic and religious society like Nigeria.

 

However, he declared “we are still friends”

 

Speaking on the crisis in the PDP over the choice of his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the PDP presidential candidate said that it is not true that there was voting by the select committee, rather, Atiku said, “from the report sent to me, the committee said, ‘we forward to you three names and that there were no mention of voting at the select committee.”

 

He challenged the Benue state governor Samuel Ortom to contradict him on this.

 

He maintained that he still has the letter given to him, where three vice presidential aspirants were recommended, stating that it was his constitutional right to choose his running mate.

 

On why he choose the governor of Delta state, Atiku said,  “In arriving at the decision, I held wide consultations with various stakeholders in our party including our governors, the national working committee, board of trustees, and other leaders to seek their inputs and their wisdom.

 

“In these consultations, I made clear that my running mate would have the potential to succeed me at a moment’s notice, that is, a president-in-waiting.

 

“In other words, the person must have the qualities to be President. The person must have an appreciation of the deep rot which our country has been put into by the rudderless All Progressives Congress government; understands the great suffering that most of our people are going through and the urgency of relieving them of that suffering; understands the critical importance of economic growth and development to provide our young people with jobs, hope, and a pathway to wealth.”

 

On the chances of Peter Obi winning the 2023 presidential election,  Atiku said that he is not expecting the Labour Party (LP) to pull off a surprise to win the 2023 presidential election.

 

Atiku stated that Labour party will not divide the votes meant for the PDP as being suggested in some quarters.

 

The PDP presidential standard bearer cited  the performance of the Labour party in the just concluded governorship election in Osun, saying the party does not have governors, members of the national assembly and state assemblies.

 

Atiku said, “I really don’t expect the Labour Party to take as many votes from the PDP as people are suggesting,” he said.

 

“We could have seen it in the last election in Osun state. What is the performance of the Labour Party?

 

“This is a party that doesn’t have a governor, doesn’t have members of the national assembly, doesn’t have state assembly members, and politics in this country depends on the structures you have at the various levels — at the local government level, at the state level, and at the national level.”

 

Speaking further, the former vice-president said 90 percent of people in the north are not social media, insinuating that it will limit the chances of the LP to win the 2023 presidential election.

 

“So, it is very difficult to expect a miracle to happen, simply because Peter Obi is in the Labour Party. After all, they were saying through social media, they had more than one million votes in Osun state,” he said.

 

“But how many votes turned for the Labour Party? And then again, mark you, you’re talking about social media. In the north, 90 percent of our people are not tuned to social media.”

 

The PDP presidential candidate spoke on zoning of the presidential ticket of the party, he said that power is never transferred, but negotiated.

 

According to Atiku, “agitation is different from micro zoning, as it has always been between the north and south “, adding, that power is negotiated.

 

On Ruga, he said that the issue of ranching should be a regional or state affairs, as it does not require a national legislation.

 

Atiku who claimed that he owns over 1000 cows, insisted that legislation on ranching should be a state affairs.

 

Meanwhile, in a statement he signed immediately after the Arise interview. titled, “My Response to Nigeria’s Debt Servicing Exceeding Revenue”  Atiku said, Thursday’s revelation by Nigeria’s Finance Minister that the cost of servicing Nigeria’s debt has surpassed the Federal Government’s retained revenue by N310 billion in the first quarter of the year is very worrisome.

 

“First, this action must be in breach of all known reasonable debt-sustainability thresholds. Second, it puts a big question mark on the capacity of the government to manage its rising debt profile without endangering macroeconomic stability. Indeed, I am concerned that this action is already exposing Nigeria to financial stability issues as we slip from a medium risk of debt distress to high risk of debt distress.

 

“I had on several occasions warned that not only is the fiscal cost of government’s indiscriminate borrowing so enormous but has even greater opportunity costs as we sacrifice investments in critical areas, including education, health, and other basic services. This is certainly detrimental to Nigeria’s long-term growth.

 

“I urge the government to as a matter of urgency do the following:

• Take immediate steps to slow down the rate of debt accumulation by promoting more Public Private Partnerships in critical infrastructure funding and identifying more innovative funding options;
• Review the current utilization of all borrowed funds and ensure that they are deployed more judiciously. Specifically, government must ensure that all borrowed funds are for priority infrastructure projects that would generate income, boost output, and put the economy on the path of sustainable growth;
• Review the country’s debt strategy by focusing on concessional and semi-concessional sources with lower interest rates and relatively long-term maturity. The government must reduce the issuance of short-dated debt instruments;
• Take steps to improve its spending efficiency and drastically cut unnecessary and wasteful expenditures”.

 

 

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