By Ben Ogbemudia
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on Thursday called on the National Working Committee of the People’s Democratic Party to first and foremost give him the right of first refusal in contesting for the Presidential ticket of the party.
Addressing Dr. Iyorchia Ayu led National Working Committee at the party national Secretariat, Atiku said though we are in a democracy, that all What he can urge them is to make sure that the way they have started, they should also conclude the way they have started by being very fair, very credible, giving every contestant the opportunity to face the electorate.
“I dare say Mr. chairman, I am the best candidate. Under normal circumstances Mr. Chairman, this is a guy who has already 11 million votes in his kitty.
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” So, let me thank you very much indeed for giving me this opportunity. I had come with a prepared speech but I did not go through it. You can see that I have faced you with the major issues that are confronting this country and our party. And once again, I want to commend you for the excellent leadership you have so far given to this party by giving this party this excellent relationship. It means that this country should also expect an excellent leadership from the People’s Democratic Party.
“We all know, every Nigeria knows that the APC has failed but we should not take Nigerians for granted. We should go all out to let them know APC has failed, It will continue to fail. No matter what gap they have come or they appear to be, they will continue to fail and PDP has not failed on your comparative analysis. If you compare the achievements of PDP and the failure of APC, you know that you have no any other choice than PDP.”
“This National Working Committee have interacted with me politically and otherwise for a very long time.
“I don’t have to tell you, what I am, what qualifications I have, what experience I have, and what I can do for this party, for this country.
“Of course, when I declared to run for the president of this country, I said I was going to emphasize on five key issues and these five key issues are germane. I said I was going to make sure that I reunite this country. And that was why I referred myself as the unifier.
“Secondly, I said I was going to deal decisively with security issues because there has to be rule of law, there has to be security.
“Before anything else Mr. Chairman and members of the National Working Committee about two months ago, I was on a visit to Niger State and I decided to pay a courtesy call to the governor. The governor told me, sir, we have about twelve local governments, which are under the control of bandits. We don’t know how to conduct elections in those local governments. And I went to the President, I said, Mr. President, we need more policemen and the President said how can I give you more policemen when the inspector general of police and the police service commission are in court on who will recruit policemen. I cannot be that kind of President. And that is where we added today. We cannot recruit policemen because the two agencies are in court and we have a president who cannot bring under control his own heads of departments, not even ministers.
“So I’m not going to be that kind of President and you know that Mr. Chairman because you and I have worked in the same cabinet.
“Members of the National Working Committee, you also know I also promise to deal with the economy. So of course, after you have achieved unity, after you have achieved peace, the next is to deal with the economy.
“And you known Mr. chairman and many of your colleagues here on the National Working Committee know that when we came into office in 1999, we virtually met a similar situation like we have today. Nigeria was indebted. We have no foreign reserves, economy was in shambles. Mr. Chairman, and very many of you here who are in doubt may know that by the time we left, we left Nigeria in the most healthiest economic position. We have done it before, Mr. Chairman, we can do it again.
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“Of course, I also said in my declaration speech, I was also going to deal with the issue of devolving more powers and resources to the States because I believe that is the best way to get Nigeria developed to its fullest capacity by giving autonomy and resources to the various components.
“There are some of us who grew up in the First Republic when we had regions that were virtually in charge of everything in their respective regions, ranging from security to economy to everything, and we saw how we fed and we believe this is the best way to make sure that this country is developed to it’s fullest potentials.
“Mr. Chairman and members of the National Working Committee, I’m really not here to lecture you, I’m just really here to inform you of my decision, to run again, and also to urge you to provide the right kind of leadership so that the best candidate can emerge.
Responding, the National Chairman of the party, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu warned those who have been endorsing presidential aspirants of the party to stay clear saying that the party has its internal mechanisms of selecting candidate.
“Let me take time to explain to Nigerians that the party has its own internal mechanisms of selecting a candidate whether by consensus, or by election we do it transparently. Those who love our party more than us should please tarry a little, they should not select candidates for the People’s Democratic Party. They don’t have our mandate and we will not concede that mandate to anybody, Young or an elder who chooses by himself to choose candidate for us. Our internal processes will go ahead and we are going ahead with it. At the end of the day, we’ll come up with a candidate choosen by the members of the People’s Democratic Party themselves. It is that candidate that will present to the rest of Nigeria for the forthcoming elections.
“You know the circumstances under which this Party was founded. We fought against dictatorship. We vowed that we work together to build democracy for our country and to ensure that dictatorship will never raise its heads in this country. Luckily for us for the last 24 years, the PDP has been in the forefront of building democracy for our people.
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“Let me acknowledge the fact that you and I have been close friends personal friends for more than 30 years as it was indicated, we were key players in the Social Democratic Party and key players in the emergence of chief MKO Abiola An election that was free and fair. From there we have been walking politically together. So you are a presidential aspirant today. But I want people to know that you are still my friend. I can’t deny you I never deny my friends including those who are in the other disastrous party. You know them because even there we have common friends who miss road, who normally should be here with us.
“More importantly, since we formed this party as you have mentioned, we have worked together in various capacities. It is you and I that plotted the emergence of President Obasanjo. An administration that did very well, putting Nigeria, on a healthy map economically, socially and politically. Again, I can’t deny the fact that we work together harmoniously, whether political issues or economic issues and on the National Security Council when I was Minister for internal affairs.
” I’m saying this to make it clear that those who say Oh, because of my personal relationship with you, as chairman, I’ll work for you. Mr. Vice President, I will not work for you as an aspirant. I will work for all the 17 aspirants. It is left to you to convince the delegates of our party that you are the best. You have to market yourself ,you have to work hard. This National Working Committee for now we remain an umpire. We are not going to take side with any particular aspirants. But we love you all. I’ve said repeatedly that each one of you given the opportunity will run this country better than what APC has done or will be able to do.
“So in that light, our delegates drawn across the 36 states plus Abuja were ultimately gather hopefully in Abuja and select one of you and the day a candidate emerges we will all rally around that candidate and make sure we win the presidential election next year.
“If you happen to be the choice of our delegates? All of us sitting here, the National Working Committee. Will Work very hard to ensure that you win the 2023 elections And when you win. It will not be taking away again as it was done in 2019.
” We appreciate the enthusiasm of those who support our party from the outside. They should continue to do so. But they don’t have our mandate to determine who will be our presidential candidate. And on that note, I want all 17 of you to continue to canvass for votes across the breadth of this country. I also want to plead with you not to attack each other. You must remain as members of one family you must continue to hold meetings and visit each other and call each other on the phone. You must continue to relate to try and create the necessary synergy, because whoever emerges as a candidate will need the others to win the presidential election. No single person can on his or her own go around Nigeria and canvass for votes and win an election.
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“We all need each other. We need every single presidential aspirant, governorship, members of the NWC every member of the PDP family and I want to assure you that this internal process as a National Working Committee, we will try to follow the tradition of the People’s Democratic Party since 1999. PDP has never had a controversial convention we always have a transparent convention. From the one that produced President Obasanjo in jos in 1999, to the last one that produced you in Port Harcourt .
“We want as a working committee to improve on that record, I want to make sure that the world respects the candidate, the process, and the candidate we produce and all those who lose out will appreciate that the lost election free and fairly. With that in mind, they will be willing to campaign for the winning candidate.
“I want to thank you and your entourage for coming before us today for giving us such a wonderful speech that touches on the key things confronting this country, unity, security, the economy and devolution of powers. I think that all these issues you have mentioned at the next NEC meeting, we intend to set out the manifesto committee which will try to articulate the position of the party on everything, including our foreign policy position. We must be seen to be different to the other party that has no position or anything and does not agree on anything. And this president cannot even control his agencies and his ministers. We want a decisive president that will rescue Nigeria, PDP is back. PDP is determined to win with a quality candidate.”
