Atiku added no electoral value in 2015 elections- Inuwa

The National Vice Chairman (North West) of the APC, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, has disclosed that former vice president of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar added no electoral value during the 2015 elections.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday at the party secretariat in Abuja, Inuwa said “Yes, Atiku like many others made certain contributions in the 2015 elections and in building the party but the bigger picture which he gave is not correct. The North West zone which I represent had eight presidential campaign rallies which Atiku did not attend any.”

Inuwa who was responding to a statement the former VP had made on air regarding the current state of leadership in Nigeria, also said by virtue of Atiku’s position as a former vice president and age, he is expected to act and speak with decorum.

“Yes, he added value by his personality, but there are so many other members of the party that made financial contributions and added electoral value. North West is the most populous zone in terms of the APC membership and in terms of electoral victory, not only to the president but we have seven state governors and 20 out of the 21 senators in the zone are from the APC.

Inuwa said, “He ( Atiku) is an elder statesman and so with this status, there are certain things that comes to terms which is nothing but to exhibit a high sense of decorum in conduct, guarding what you say, how and when you say it, because what is expected as a statesman, is nothing but facts.

Atiku had on Wednesday morning in an interview by the Hausa service of the Voice of America (VOA) said: “Honestly speaking, I am still a member of the APC; I was part of all the processes including campaigns until success was achieved, but sadly, soon after the formation of government, I was sidelined. I have no relationship with the government. I have not been contacted even once to comment on anything and in turn, I maintained my distance. They used our money and influence to get to where they are, but three years down the lane, this is where we are”.

Inuwa however, said that as national leaders, majority of the people look up to them to provide good leadership with example in the sense that from what they say, “People learn a lot”.

He said: “Of recent, Atiku has made some statements to the effect that, or create an impression of the failure of the party and the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government. At that level, good party members, especially of his status should not be seen to be making public statements even if those criticisms are factual, whereas in this case, some of these statements were misleading and incorrect.

“As leaders, we shouldn’t be seen as joining issues in the public domain but since he has made a public statement, the public is entitled to get the other side or be told the truth.

“I think we are critical and major stakeholders in this party. So one of the reasons we are making this statement is in order to calm our members in these states and not to be distracted. APC is well on ground and efforts are being made to solidify those gains and we shouldn’t be distracted by such unfortunate statements that the party is neglecting a particular person or group of persons. Some involve processes, and you don’t expect everything to happen at the same time.

“More importantly, there should be some decorum in what we do. People who have attained those high privileged positions should know that they have attained certain status in the society which means, they cannot afford to talk anyhow”.