APC LEADERS MUST SHIFT FROM EXTREME POSITIONS —ATIKU

A former vice president and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, urged leaders of the party to shift from extreme positions to a centrist one, in the interest of democracy and the party, the new administration and the country at large.
He dropped the hint against the backdrop of the APC National Executive Committee’s (NEC) meeting today, in Abuja.
A statement released by his media office in Abuja, quoted Atiku as calling for the concentration of positive energies on building unity, cohesion and harmony among party leaders and other stakeholders.
According to him, “we can resolve our differences when our leaders individually and collectively shift grounds from extreme positions and move to the centre in the interest of our party and our country.”

ATIKU’S SECRET PLOTS

The crisis in the two chambers of the National Assembly has again brought to the fore the power struggle within the All Progressives Congress, APC. Since the merger of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and a splinter group from the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been calling the shots in the APC.
Tinubu unilaterally handpicked Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as the National Chairman of the party and most of the members of the party’s National Working Committee, NWC. Tinubu, who is referred to as the national leader of the party despite the fact that there is no such position in the party’s constitution, had his way in the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the party. He also had the rare privilege of nominating Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate.

BOKO HARAM RAISES OPERATIONS, WANTS TO SUBDUE NIGERIA – ATIKU

Former Vice -President Atiku Abubakar has called on Nigerians to stand up and counter the menace of Boko Haram by being more security conscious.
He said the populace should offer information of any strange movement in their localities to the security agencies.
The former Vice-President, who spoke on Friday, was reacting to the Thursday’s bomb blast that rocked the Yola Modern Market, resulting in the death of over 40 persons.
He said the insurgents had raised their modes of operations, and appeared to habour an intention to subdue the country.
Atiku visited the Federal Medical Centre, Yola, on Friday in company with the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase; Adamawa State Governor, Senator Jubrilla Bindow; and Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mohamad Sani Sidi, who were in the state to visit the victims of the blast and sympathise with them.

ATIKU DEMANDS SENATE PRESIDENCY FOR NORTH EAST

• It’s everybody’s demand – Lawal
Indications emerged Sunday that the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is leading the demand for the post of Senate Presidency for the North East.
A source close to the former Vice President told the New Telegraph that it was one of the reasons that, he (Atiku) visited the President-elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at the Defence House in Abuja last week
But the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Vice Chairman, North East, Engr. David Lawal said the demand is being made by everybody from the zone.
According to Lawal, the demand of the Senate Presidency to the North East is the wish of every member of the party.

BUHARI’LL CHANGE NIGERIA, BUT… –ATIKU

Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has assured that the in¬coming government of Gen Muham¬madu Buhari will change Nigeria positively, but warned that the transforma¬tion will not be immediate.
This is as he lambasted the President Goodluck Jonathan’s government over the persistent fuel scarcity and sacking of some government officials . He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government has shown that it is inept and corrupt.
The former Vice President who spoke yesterday in Abuja after a meeting with Gen. Buhari urged Nigerians not to expect miracles from the incoming government. He submitted that though he had no doubt in his mind that Buhari will transform the country, it will not be achieved overnight.

OBJ RESPONSIBLE FOR WOES IN NIGERIA'S OIL SECTOR —ATIKU

FORMER vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, blamed former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, for the woes in the country's oil sector.
Atiku, at the ongoing 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair, said since Obasanjo doubled as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, nobody knew what was happening in the sector.
Atiku, speaking on why private investors were unable to collect licence to build refineries, in order to cushion the excruciating hardship occasioned by fuel scarcity during the Obasanjo/Atiku-led administration, he said in the eight years of the administration, there was no Minister of Petroleum Resources.
Atiku said for that reason, throughout the period, he was not able to make an appreciable input.

EVERY LEADER SHOULD BE ON SOCIAL MEDIA - FORMER VP ATIKU

True talk,,

WHY I’VE NOT CAMPAIGNED FOR BUHARI—ATIKU

Former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abibakar, has dismissed the rumour that President Goodluck Jonathan met him in his Yola family home to discuss the issue of an interim national government.
Atiku also explained why he had not been part of the campaigns of the APC presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
Atiku told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa that the issue of interim government was never discussed when the president paid him that surprise visit, but that Jonathan had only pleaded with him to return to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
The Turaki of Adamawa said just like during three other visits of the president to him, he told the president that “the ink had already dried up in the pen” and he was not going back to the PDP.

ATIKU VOWS TO REMAIN IN APC

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday vowed to remain in the All Progressives Congress through thick and thin.
He reiterated his commitment to the party and the success of its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari and other candidates in the 2015 general elections noting that his commitment is unwavering and never been up for bargaining.
Atiku said this while reacting to speculations that he was being courted by President Jonathan to return to the Peoples Democratic Party.
This was contained in a statement by his Media Campaign Office in Abuja.
He was quoted as saying “I remain irrevocably committed to the APC, as I promised in my concession speech at the conclusion of our party’s presidential primaries, and has been working tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure the victory of General Muhammadu Buhari and other candidates of our great party at the general elections.”

FORMER VP ATIKU ABUBAKAR CONDEMNS VIOLENCE AGAINST PRESIDENT JONATHAN

Your advise came handy. Kudos

APC MAY APPROACH ATIKU OVER CAMPAIGN FUNDS

LEADERS of the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeared to have run into a hitch, following spirited moves to raise a befitting financial war chest to counter the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general election.
Investigations by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that leaders of the APC are currently mounting pressure on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to deploy his finances in support of the challenge against PDP in 2015.
It was learnt that a team of experts raised by party leaders on the possible financial outlay of the general election had estimated that the party would need funds in the region of N50 billion to prosecute the February elections in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

BUHARI: I AM NOT A FUNDAMENTALIST, ATIKU: WISH ME SUCCESS, NOT GOOD LUCK

Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), one of the leading presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has refuted insinuations that he is a religious fundamentalist.
He made the point in an exclusive interview with THISDAY Board of Editors over the weekend.
While admitting that he is a “practicing muslim”, the former Head of State argued that his career background and general orientation has never indicated a proclivity for religious intolerance or religious obsession.
According to him, “ I cannot disown my religion because of the accusations. People I worked with for more than twenty years and I rose from Second Lieutenant to General. All the commands and staff that I worked with along the line, most of my associates were Christians. For example, when I moved into Maiduguri to clear the Chadians, my number two man then was Ugwoke, a Christian”.

ATIKU CAMPAIGN GROUP: OUR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH IS ALREADY WRITTEN

APC presidential ticket is a sure bet, says Borishade
Ex-VP’s possible emergence unsettles Jonathan, PDP, say loyalists
The campaign organisation of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Monday was full of much confidence about Wednesday’s presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the acceptance speech of the former number two citizen has already been written as a proof of his confidence.
One of the media aides of Atiku, Alhaji Shehu Garba, who stated this at a news conference, said the campaign group was not worried about the outcome of Wednesday’s primary election because all is set for Atiku to clinch the ticket and fly the party’s flag.
In the same vein, a former Minister of Aviation and leader of the campaign group, Professor Babalola Borisade, who had earlier gave this indication, said with the party holding a direct primary, Atiku would win the ticket.

ATIKU: I’M THE BEST OF ALL APC ASPIRANT

The former Vice-President and an All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential aspirant, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at the weekend said he was the most popular among the people contesting for the presidential ticket of the party.
Atiku, who spoke during his visit to the Ondo State executive of the party and delegates in the state in Akure, the state capital, expressed confidence of getting the party’s ticket for the election, saying no other aspirant can defeat him in the primary of the party.
Atiku said the responses he got from his tour of states he had visited indicated that he was the most popular among the party’s presidential aspirants.
On the insinuation that the other leading aspirant and former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), is more favoured than him, Atiku insisted that none of the aspirants was ahead of him in the race.

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES: ATIKU WOOS DELEGATES WITH N50,000 EACH

Even before the commencement of the presidential primaries of the opposition party All Progressives Congress (APC), former vice president Abubakar Atiku has splashed about N16.4million on Katsina APC, that included N50,000 each to the state’s 208 delegates.
Atiku, who is one of the frontline presidential aspirants of the APC, gave the money yesterday when he visited Katsina State to lobby delegates preparatory to the party’s presidential primary election.
Speaking at the Katsina State APC Secretariat, Atiku said he viewed the APC in Katsina State as an orphan, because the party is not in government. He then announced the donation of N5 million to the state secretariat, N1 million to the elders of the party, and N50,000 each to the 208 delegates.
“APC in Katsina Sstate is an orphan. I said this because it is not in government. I have seen the condition of the secretariat; so in my capacity as one of the elders of the party, I give the party secretariat N5 million, the elders N1 million and the delegates N50,000 each,”

JONATHAN POSES THREAT TO DEMOCRACY —ATIKU

FORMER vice president Atiku Abubakar has slammed the crude methods the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration is using to harass and humiliate perceived political enemies.
Reacting to the incident at the National Assembly on Thursday, where heavily armed security operatives prevented the Speaker, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, from gaining access to the House, the former vice president, in a statement by his media office, said the “siege mentality” of the Jonathan-led administration poses grave threats to Nigeria’s democracy.
“Obviously, the emergency rule has failed to stem the unrest. The Federal Government must work with, rather than against those who understand and have been elected by the people to govern,” Atiku counselled.

NIGERIA 2015: IT IS ‘TOO LATE’ FOR APC TO PICK CONSENSUS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE – ATIKU

One of the presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has stated that it is ‘too late’ for the party to adopt a consensus candidate for next year’s presidential election.
Atiku Abubakar, who is also a former vice president, stated this while speaking to journalists in Bauchi on Sunday.
“It is too late for the party to think of holding a consensus forum for its presidential aspirants but rather, it should conduct a delegate conference where we will fight it out,” Mr. Abubakar said.
According to him, it is one of the tenets of best practices in democracy for candidates to be allowed to test their popularity.

I’M INDEBTED TO OBASANJO – ATIKU

Former vice president and presidential aspirant of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, said yesterday that he was indebted to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo. He made the remark shortly after meeting the former leader in his country home in Abeokuta, where he said he had come to discuss the state of the nation with his former boss.
“When President Olusegun Obasanjo became candidate in our great party then, he nominated me to be his vice president then and that gave me the opportunity to serve this country at the highest level, I am greatly indebted to I’m and the people of this state for that opportunity.”

70% OF NORTHERNERS ARE ILLITERATES – ATIKU

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said in Abuja Thursday that the northern part of the country has the highest rate of illiteracy rate in the country with 70 percent of its people uneducated.
Atiku, who spoke at a public presentation of a book “Re-thinking the Legal Framework for Rights of Women and Girl-Child in Nigeria,” in honour of His wife, Amina Titi Atiku Abubakar, also said that 38 percent of women in Nigeria lack formal education while only four percent of them have higher education.
The All Progressives Congress presidential candidate explained that 10 million Nigerian children are currently out of school with women constituting 60 percent of them, saying about 22 percent of teenage girls in Nigeria have at least one unwanted pregnancy.
Atiku who spoke on the title “Protecting the Rights of Nigerian a Women and the Girl Child Amidst Insecurity,” said the development is more prevalent in the north than in the southern part of the country.

ALL APC ASPIRANTS ARE BETTER THAN JONATHAN- ATIKU

Former Vice President and presidential aspirant, All Progressive Congress, Atiku Abubakar, said all presidential aspirants on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, are far better than the president.
Atiku made this statement, yesterday at the public declaration of the founder of Leadership newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah for the presidential race in Minna, Niger State, stressing that whoever wins the party primary is better than President Jonathan,” Mr. Abubakar said
He described Mr. Nda-Isaiah as a “personal friend,” the former vice president, who is also a presidential aspirant on the APC ticket, disclosed that he and the other four aspirants had agreed to back whoever emerges as the flag bearer during the primary election in other to terminate the Jonathan administration.