5 days to National Convention in Abuja, Atiku returns to PDP

Five days to the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), slated for Saturday in Abuja, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has announced his return to the PDP where he was a foundation member.

Atiku made the announcement on Sunday in his Facebook Live chat.

He said that he took the decision to return to the PDP after consultations with his constituency, party leaders and stakeholders nationwide.

Making the announcement, Atiku said, “Hello, my name is Atiku Abubakar. I am speaking to you today on Facebook Live as I want to reach as many of our young people as possible as I have an important announcement to make about the future of Nigeria”.

Harping on the importance of changing the political narratives in the country by engaging the younger generation and creating jobs, Atiku said, “I have found in my travels across the country that whenever I get into conversations with young people their number one concern is whether they will be able to get a job for without a
job they have no means of sustaining themselves or begin a family.

“And without the security of a job we cannot have security in our country. So without jobs, there is no future for you or for Nigeria.

“And I also know as a parent that the older generation is also concerned about jobs for their children and, too often today, for themselves as well.

“Creating jobs is something I know about as I have created over 50,000 direct jobs and 250,000 indirect jobs in my own state of Adamawa. And I also know how the Government can help create the right environment for businesses to create jobs”.

Narrating his inputs in job creation and diversification of the economy while he was the vice president, Atiku said, “When I was Vice President in 1999, I was responsible for liberalising the telecomms sector which enabled us to increase the number of people who could access a phone from less than 1 million then to over 100 million today.

“This transformation resulted in the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs from the top-up card vendors you see on every street corner to the many new businesses that fed off the mobile phone revolution”.

Atiku, who also narrated his political excursion in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), further disclosed that: “Some of you may also know that I left the PDP four years ago when I believed it was no longer aligned to the principles of equity, democracy and social justice upon which we had founded it.

“I joined the APC as I had hoped it would be the new force that would help improve life for our people and I was excited about the party’s manifesto to create 3 million new jobs a year.

“The result has not been the change people had been promised or voted for, as in the last two years almost 3 million Nigerians have lost their jobs.

“And today with a record 25% of people aged 18-25 unemployed I can see how difficult it is for our youths to find a job”.

On his eventual return to the PDP, Atiku said, “So today I want to let you know that I am returning home to the PDP as the issues that led me to leave it have now been resolved and it is clear that the APC has let the Nigerian people, and especially our young people, down”.

Answering questions from his online listeners on his programme for the youths, Atiku responded thus, “The key to knowing what young people want is to listen to them. I’m good at that. Sometimes, when I am on the phone with my kids they ask me are you still there, because I just listen to them without interrupting.

“Young people are on social media and so I go there. They tell me that their number one challenge is jobs. Terrorism, militancy, kidnapping, and other forms of exuberance they may lead to criminality are a symptom of the disease of joblessness.

“Once you can get Nigeria working again and get Nigerians working again, youth restiveness will ease and gradually disappear”.

Atiku, who also gave a clue on how he will harmonize his business empire with political position, said that,
“Leadership must be separated from management. I lead my businesses. I do not manage them. I have qualified managers managing them including some in their early 20s.

“As a leader, you provide direction and then you bring in skilled people and inspire them to implement your roadmap to getting to the destination of your direction”.

On his choice of the PDP against other political parties despite the declining fortune of the party, Atiku said,

“Nobody knows the future other than God and to dictate what the future will be is not within man’s purview.
“But it is about Nigeria not about power. Power for powers own sake breeds arrogance and arrogance makes men say things like that.

“All I am saying is that we need a party that speaks to national sentiments not regional ones. We need a party that can make all Nigerians one till we can boldly say that we are all brothers and sisters with only one mother Nigeria.”

On the call by by some Nigerian in the social media that the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Police engaged in unethical behaviour, Atiku said, “We cannot be outraged that Nigerians and other African migrants are being mistreated in Libya and then we go ahead and mistreat our people back home.

‘Whether it is how SARS treats Nigerians or how we treat each other, we are sending a message to the outside world. We can’t expect foreigners to treat our people better than we treat them.

“We must set the minimum standard required for the treatment of Nigerians worldwide by the way we treat our people domestically. Our charity must begin at home.

‘On this issue, I call on the Inspector General of Police as a concerned Nigerian to intervene, and I know that the Nigerian Police as a disciplined and well organized force will take action to address this issue. It will go a long way to improving Nigeria’s rating in the global ranking of Police Forces next year because this year, they were wrongfully ranked as the worst”.

Ekweremmadu hails Atiku’s return

Meanwhile, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has described as a welcome development the return of Atiku to the PDP not only for the party, but for the nation’s democracy.

He stated this in a statement by the Special Adviser (Media) to Deputy President of the Senate, Mr Uche Anichukwu.

Ekweremadu said the move represented a massive Vote of No Confidence in the leadership capacity of the ruling APC, first, by the masses, and now by the cream of its hierarchy and founding members.

He said: “The dumping of the APC by Alhaji Atiku is a welcome development for the PDP, but more importantly, Nigeria’s democracy.

“Nigeria is in dire need of a rescue mission to rekindle hope in our democracy, restore her on the path of prosperity, and halt the worsening divisiveness that threatens our corporate existence.

“I, therefore, enjoin all former PDP faithful who left for various reasons as well as other progressive-minded Nigerians to emulate Alhaji Atiku, to reunite under the umbrella to salvage the nation because I see a new and better Nigeria coming in 2019.

“I see a country where corruption will be eradicated, a nation that will be a pride to Africa and admiration of the international community, and a nation where no man will be oppressed, intimidated, persecuted or sidelined on account of ethnicity, religion or political persuasion. No amount of desperation will stop the will of God for Nigeria in 2019”.

Myke Uzendu, Abuja