₦airaland Forum

Atiku: Obasanjo is PDP’s biggest mistake
FRIDAY, 15 OCTOBER 2010 05:55 GODWIN ISENYO
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•Otegbola, Apampa, Anisulowo, others reject ‘Yar’Adua treatment’ in Ogun
Godwin Isenyo, Kaduna & Kunle Olayeni, Abeokuta
FORMER Vice President and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, yesterday described his former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as “the biggest mistake ever made by our party because he was taken from prison to become president.”
He urged the party to learn from the ugly experience in future political moves.
Atiku explained that Obasanjo was an unwilling horse in 1998, but was forced by the party leadership on Nigerians. He pointed out that PDP members must not allow such a mistake to happen again as the country approaches the 2011 election.
To Atiku, Obasanjo was never willing to become the presidential flag bearer of the PDP, but was forced by the party to bear the flag, and therefore cautioned the party to learn from Obasanjo’s experience not to drag an unwilling member into the 2011 presidential contest.
The former Vice President warned the party against making another mistake of electing “an unwilling president”.



Addressing members of the Kaduna State House of Assembly yesterday at the Lugard Hall, Kaduna, he also said: “I remain the only democrat among the other presidential aspirants” of the party, foreclosing any possibility of a consensus candidate in the forthcoming PDP party primaries.
He said that as a democrat, he does not believe in a consensus candidate, adding that he was prepared to face the other contestants at the primaries, saying that as a democrat, he does not believe in the idea of a consensus candidate.
According to Atiku, after serving as Vice President for eight years, “I am the only one who has the required democratic experience to lead the country.”
Said Atiku: “My former boss and former President Olusegun Obasanjo was somebody who came out of prison and was not ready to be President and we dragged him to be President from his Ota farm and you can see how Nigeria has ended after his tenure.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was founded on the basis of democratic norms because we wanted to establish a very strong and big political party so that we can be able to mobilise the people of this country to ensure that there will be no more military meddling into political affairs.
“I know nothing more than putting together my ability to build and manage political parties and also making them to win elections. I know what contribution I have made to ensure that PDP is what it is today. I know the contributions I made in deepening democracy in our party and in the country at large.
“I want to say that among all the presidential aspirants that are vying for president today, nobody is politically more qualified to be president than myself. This is because if you look at all of them, none has gotten the experience in democracy for eight years as much as I am today because we have never had an opportunity to have a democratic governance for more than eight years.
“Believe me, none of them is prepared to be president; is ready and want to be president as much as I am. I happened to be the greatest contributor to the development of this party and also the greatest contributor in deepening democracy and the rule of law.
“That is why today, nobody is competent or has the power to disqualify you from running from any office unless by a competent court because sometimes, if the government does not like your face, INEC will get up to say you are disqualified.
“Today, we are free also to change parties because of my struggles and my contributions to the rule of law so that democracy will strive in Nigeria. The independence of the legislators must be guaranteed under the constitution in a presidential system of government. I will not be President where the legislature is not autonomous because I want to govern with impunity.”
The former Vice President, who also visited the Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, lauded the transition that took place in the state when the then governor , Namadi Sambo, was elevated to be the Vice President.
He said: “I want to commend the transition that has taken place in Kaduna State in accordance with the constitutional provisions, and I also want to commend the good people of Kaduna State for the support that they have given to this democratic process as enshrined in our constitution.
“Ordinarily, your Excellency, in my visit to Kaduna State, I don’t really have to call you because Kaduna has been my second home since 1982 and I still continue to maintain my home, it is part of my family.
“I could have as well be part of this state but because we are on a kind of formal visit to Kaduna State to open our zonal campaign office, we requested for your kind permission, to call on you because we believe this opportunity that will be given to us will be used to kill two birds with one stone.
“I have no doubt in my mind that you have what it takes to lead the state, to ensure the dividends of democracy for the development of the state. I therefore wish to use this opportunity to wish you success, and I can assure you of my support all the time.”
However, there was a mild drama as the North-West zonal coordinator of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Senator Mas-ud El-Jibril Doguwa, was beaten by some party loyalists for some undisclosed reasons.
He was later rescued by security agents.
This happened soon after the Vice President commissioned his North-West Zonal Campaign office in the metropolis.
Meanwhile, chieftains of the PDP in Ogun West Senatorial District yesterday vowed to resist the alleged plot by Obasanjo to impose General Tunji Olurin (rtd) as the zone’s governorship candidate in the 2011 elections.
Rising from a meeting in Ilaro, Yewa South Local Government Area of the state, the party chieftains, including Senator Ayo Otegbola, Chief (Mrs) Iyabo Apampa, Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, and other notable leaders, contended that any attempt by Obasanjo to alter the consensus arrangement by the Yewa-Awori zone would be resisted.
Obasanjo and the Group of 15 lawmakers opposed to Governor Gbenga Daniel had last Sunday held a secret meeting in his hilltop presidential mansion, Abeokuta where they agreed on Olurin as the consensus candidate for the governorship and also concluded to field the former president’s daughter, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, as his running mate.
But at the meeting presided over by Otegbola in Ilaro yesterday, PDP leaders, under the aegis of Ogun West Project 2011 Apex Committee, said people of Yewa-Awori had already picked Mr. Gboyega Nasir Isiaka as their consensus candidate for the poll.
They wondered why some people went behind to hold a secret meeting allegedly to tamper with the arrangement, stressing that they would never accept it.
The party chieftains also lamented that the plot to impose Olurin would negate the desire of teeming Muslim population of the state, who had strongly canvassed the emergence of a Muslim governor in 2011.
Other speakers at the event expressed fear that the plot may result in what was described as “the Yar’Adua treatment.”
In his remarks, Otegbola said Isiaka, a former Managing Director of Gateway Holdings Ltd, was picked as consensus candidate, following rigorous screening of 12 governorship aspirants for the coveted position.
According to him, factors such as educational background, exposure, experience and age were considered in choosing Isiaka. A PDP member, Alhaji Jelili Akingbade, condemned the move to foist Olurin/Obasanjo-Bello ticket on the Yewa people, saying the aspirants lacked the required popularity in Ogun West.
Akingbade said: “We need a governor that is healthy, we need a governor that will finish his term and go for a second term. We don’t want a governor that is over 70 years and his deputy will assist to complete his term.”

http://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68663:atiku-obasanjo-is-pdps-biggest-mistake&catid=43:news&Itemid=799

5columnist:
Nigerians are simply daft. The President told us that this man was responsible from day one and said it was wrong for him (Okah) and his cronies; independent bomb blaster (IBB) conspirators  to hide under the umbrella of a group focused on fighting the marginalisation of the south-south region. Thus his assertion that MEND was not responsible was right.
We all know OKAH is a gun-runner and that the current President of South-Africa is a gun runner too. That was why Mbeki had issues about handing over the affairs of south Africa to him. Would it not to be logical to think that the initial efforts made to protect OKAH was an instruction from Zuma a  possible accomplice.
Did anyone notice that ZUMA was not available on the day of our celebration. If not for anything, Nigeria supported the fight for the end of apartheid and the emancipation of black Africans. He was not there but Thabo Mbeki was there.
OKAH is a criminal and should be treated that way and if anybody from now henceforth carry out any attack on any government facility or interest, it is entirely in place to tag such act an act of terrorism because the amnesty programme enshrine the right to seek for individual freedom  and rights without the use of force in the Niger-Delta. This of course was signed by most militants as well as Okah, who was released from prison by Femi Falana.
Having signed not to be found dealing or using arms to push for the emancipation of the Niger-deltan cause, it is then criminally to see any receipt or message that upholds violent within his domain.
To directly threaten the government of Nigeria that our entity will remain ungovernable unless oil blocs are allocated to him and his cronies is another breach of the agreement signed during the amnesty.
We all should be clear that an act of sabotage in whatever form to facilities protected under the laws of a recognised state is punishable under law.
Okah is a drowning man who dug his own grave and is seeking for cheap sympathy after possibly shedding innocent blood on October 1st. Let the blood of the innocent seek vengeance and make life uncomfortable for all the generations of those who orchestrated the October 1st bomb blast.

marvix:
Beaf u doing a good job here, but there is no need to argue with people who feel they know the jobs of the police and security agents better than those that were trained.

Where in the world have u seen investigators declaring all the info they have, any criminal who has done his homework properly never owns up to crime even when glaring evidences are put up against them.

Okah is a criminal amnesty or not, he has contacts with the bombers, he is a known arms dealer, so the bombers who gave them funds to purchase explosives are more important than the bombers themselves.

In due time the truth or what will be accepted as the truth will be out and would still be up for debate.

excanny:
What happened to Jomo Gbomo, the official spokesman for MEND? Or is he the same person as Henry Okah? If the latter is true, that may explain his sudden silence.

Kobojunkie:
WOW . . . . so FIFA is to blame now??  

9ijaMan:
MEND is not responsible, yet MEND leader Henry Okah has been arrested

~Bluetooth:
Is plagiarism not the same thing as '' COPY and PASTE '' ?

babasoty:
just reading some folks here rile this woman really surprises me, first I speak as an Okrikan and secondly I speak as someone who was present there when it all transpired, lets get something clear I as a rivers indigene do honestly appreciate the efforts of governor Ameachi in transforming Rivers state, I am a supporter of his achievements and laudable strides, I paid in my own little way for supporting Amaechi to become the governor of Rivers state, for that I had my family house in Okrika destroyed and my mother's community in Amadi-Ama attacked cause we believed, ( that was Amaechi's slogan) now coming to this incident,
1. Patience Jonathan never took the mic from Governor Ameachi's hand, never
2. She never scolded the governor, nope she only told him to please consult with the heads and chiefs  of the community before acquiring any property for demolition rather than telling the Local government chairman to do so because land issues is seriously sensitive when it comes to Okrikans

A lot of you just talk silly without facts, have u ever been to Okrika, do you know how small Okrika is, She was right in what she said, an Okrika man can kill cus of land cus its a scarce commodity in Okrika, just because you are building a school dosen't mean people should be sent on exile, the problem with Ameachi is dialogue is not a part of him, he thinks as the governor its his right to demolish every thing in sight and pay you compensation, nope it doesn't happen that way, she was right in insisting that dialogue was the best option with the chiefs and heads of the community, Njemanze waterfront was demolished its now a parking lot for the silverbird cinema, has anything meaningful thing been placed there, Nope, I am not against development and I believe everyone has to pay a price for that, but it ought to be "Jaw jaw not War War", you dialogue with the people , this is their ancestral lands and its not easy letting go, How many of the people spewing thrash here would watch their ancestral lands taken from them without dialogue and knowing your providing an alternative for them, He who wears the shoe knows where it pinches, She's an Okrikan and she knows how serious this is for her people, so before most of you go talking rubbish hear her own views

Kilode?!:
Oga, That is the exact reason why we need FOI.

To provocatively force the Truth out,
To shame thieving public servants and run them out of town.
To make people like Onovo uncomfortable. Public office is not your lounge room
If you can't handle the Hot seat why go near it?

ode remo:
alhaji ibro, let cut to the chase now, do we; the service user think onovo deserve the award?
not in a mill. .yrs.

Ileke-IdI:
A simple question was asked: DO YOU THINK YOU DESERVE SUCH AWARD  in the face of the rising crime and insecurity in the country."