The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has disclosed why some Nigerians think he is corrupt.
Speaking in an interview CNN Africa aired on Friday, Atiku said that many people believe he is corrupt because he is “successful”.
The former vice president equally reiterated his earlier position that he would have been indicted and charged if indeed he was corrupt, describing everything being said about him as “allegations”.
Atiku challenged anyone with evidence of his alleged corruption to come out publicly and present it.
He said, “I have never been charged. I have never been indicted. They are all allegations. And I have asked anybody, I have dared people publicly that if anybody has any evidence of corruption against me, let him come out.”
When he was asked, “Are you corrupt?” Atiku replied, “I’m not. Certainly not because if I’m corrupt I would have been either charged or indicted.”
Speaking about gender equality, the PDP candidate vowed to give a huge percentage of his cabinet positions to women in following the tradition of his party if elected on Saturday.
He said, “As far as the party is concerned the PDP since our inception we have always given women a quota in terms of whether appointments or election into party offices or in government.
“The PDP government if you look into our record, we have had more women ministers in our cabinet than any other government.
“This (Buhari’s government) is the only government that’s not PDP anyway, and it has less women in government.
“In my microfinance bank I said 80 per cent of the loans should go to women.”
On security situation, Atiku pledged to combat insecurity in the country by equipping the military and reviewing the welfare of lower-cadre military men that sacrifice their lives for the nation.
He said, “I blame the political leadership for not equipping the military and not giving them the necessary morale.”
The PDP candidate said he would make sure that “we have a military that is professionally competent and professionally effective and that also has conditions of service that can take care of themselves and also their families.”
He added, “Unfortunately that is not the development. And I think that has brought down the morale of the military.”
Asked how his administration would be different, Atiku said, “We have to make sure that the military is very well equipped, very well trained.
“And we also have to review the conditions of service, particularly of the lower cadre who sacrifice their lives for all of us to live.”
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