Endorsement: Atiku Mocks Buhari Over Meeting With “South East Leaders”

The Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCO) has described as an “act of desperation” the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to meet with a select group of “South East leaders” after Ohanaeze Ndigbo endorsed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Buhari had said at the Friday meeting that some Igbo leaders had called after the endorsement of Atiku to tell him not to lose sleep over the matter.

But the Atiku campaign organisation mocked the president, saying Atiku did not meet a “select group of South East leaders”.

It said the president was rejected by the Igbo leaders for being “divisive”.

In a Saturday statement, the organisation said, “We are not surprised by this act of desperation. Muhammadu Buhari has always been a divisive leader. Indeed, he even began his presidency on a divisive note.

“We recall, with great sadness, that when he was invited to speak at the United States Institute for Peace on July 22, 2015, President Buhari said, “the constituents, who for example, gave me 97 per cent cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me five per cent.

“Three years after making that statement, President Buhari has shown that he has not changed. Even his meeting was with a “select group of south-east leaders”. Nigerians should compare the president’s meeting with Atiku Abubakar’s of Wednesday 14, 2018.

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“Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, did not meet with a “select group of south-east leaders”. The PDP Presidential candidate met the entire leadership of the Southeast cutting across political, religious, social and economic lines. He did not pick and choose. He did not ‘select’. He embraced everyone, because Atiku Abubakar is for ALL Nigerians, ALL the time.”

Reacting to Buhari’s claims during the meeting that the PDP administration supervised monumental waste of the nation’s resources, APCO said “we will not get tired of speaking about the golden opportunity Nigeria lost during 16 years of the PDP”, noting that Nigeria was officially named as the world headquarters for extreme poverty by the World Poverty Clock and the World Economic Forum under Buhari.

The APCO added, “We want to remind the president that under the PDP, Nigeria was rated the happiest nation on earth, by Gallup Polls and other rating agencies, not once, but twice. Alas, under President Buhari’s administration, Nigeria has officially been named as the world headquarters for extreme poverty not once, but twice, once by the World Poverty Clock and then again by the World Economic Forum.

“Moreover, most major infrastructure that Nigerians are enjoying today, including the only federal university in President Buhari’s home state, the Abuja-Kaduna railways, Olorunshogo, Afam and Papalanto power plants, the revived national railway and the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria, which has eliminated frequent plane crashes, were all built by PDP administrations.

“The President is also reminded that when Atiku Abubakar headed the National Economic Council that paid off Nigeria’s entire foreign debt, under the able leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerian, crude oil sold for precisely one third of what is selling for today.

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“President Obasanjo and then vice president, Atiku Abubakar, simply paid off the debts piled up by past military administrations, including Buhari’s draconian military dictatorship, without complaining or blaming.

“Sadly, President Buhari is not aware of the basic rudiments of leadership, which is that when the government starts blaming the opposition for its own failure to perform, it is an admission that the government has failed.

“Atiku Abubakar will not stoop so low to blame others for things he is meant to fix. Atiku means Jobs and not blame for Nigerians. This is a message we urge all Nigerians to internalise as we call on citizens to join the “Let’s Get Nigeria Working Again Movement.”