The New Agenda for Positive
Change, a civil society organization has taken a swipe at the presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for
reportedly holding a strategy session with members of his team in Dubai, UAE.
The Dubai meeting had in
attendance, Atiku’s running mate, Peter Obi and the Senate President, Bukola
Saraki.
Also in the meeting were ex-Ogun
Governor, Gbenga Daniel, ex-aide to former President, Reno Omokri, Bayelsa East
Senator, Ben Bruce among others.
Reacting, however, the group said
the development was a sad reminder of Atiku’s extravagant lifestyle.
Raymond Clarke Amuna, President
of the group, said the development was an indication to his dangerous tendency
to hand Nigeria over to foreign interests, with Dubai being his latest
preference.
Amuna in the statement challenged
the PDP candidate to explain to Nigerians how he intends to run a
domestic-oriented economy for the masses with the kind of lavish lifestyle of
taking his strategy team with over 400 members to Dubai.
He warned that a vote for Atiku
would definitely signal a return to the era where even bottled water is
imported into the country and Nigerians will again be conditioned to believe
that only things that are foreign are good.
According to him, “Each time
Atiku Abubakar considers slinking to Dubai he should be mindful of how the
opulence of the desert city warps his sense of proprietary. He has never
returned from his Dubai trips lucid enough to accept the reality in Nigeria
possibly because his guilty conscience pricks him to know that the PDP could
have done better for Nigeria in its 16 years of misrule.
“There are various exotic venues
in Nigeria that he could have used and have members of his team spend money to
boost the local economy but he decided to expend his N20 million annual income
in ferrying Peter Obi, Secondus and other clowns in his circus to Dubai for the
strategy session. It is therefore not surprising that his team issued the
statement castigating the government for planning to use the proceeds of
privatization to fund the national budget.
“The first thing of note is that
Atiku Abubakar, a onetime Vice President (1999 to 2007) and by default the
Chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC) at the time, was the originator
of privatization or in layman’s term selling government owned enterprises,
businesses and assets. It was under him that the chant of “government has no
business in business” or “government is incapable of managing businesses” first
gained ground and have remained a part of our collective psyche today.
“This is why even as the nation
continues to explore the diversification of its revenue source under President
Muhammadu Buhari, people have been conditioned to the point that no one is
thinking of creating enterprises that will address unemployment and revenue
sources simultaneously.
“Secondly, Atiku Abubakar spoke
from experience. He is not sure that the national assets in question would be
allocated to him and his cronies as it was done under his watch when he held
sway over the privatization of most of the country’s assets.
“He is therefore definitely waiting
until such a time when he is certain that he can acquire the same assets for
pittance. His media organization ranted on about how the assets to be sold were
built by the PDP without being able to list a single one of them, which implies
that the PDP candidate is claiming what he did not achieve.”
Just yesterday, President
Muhammadu Buhari’s Personal Assistant on Social Media, Lauretta Onochie,
rubbished the meeting between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential
candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his campaign team in Dubai.
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