Former Vice President Atiku
Abubakar has narrated how he rejected state governors’ call to scuttle the
second term bid of then President Olusegun Obasanjo by running against him for
president in 2003.
He said that, rather than accede
the call, he referred them to to the resolution of the National Executive
Council of the Peoples Democratic Party, where NEC had decided that power
should remain in the southwest for eight years.
The politician, however, caused
when he declared that Chief MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the 1993
presidential election, was killed after he won the election.
Atiku also noted that while the PDP reserves the right to regulate itself, the ultimate decision about who should govern remains that of Nigerians.
The former Vice President spoke
in his opening remarks at the 94th PDP NEC meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
He said, “The Peoples Democratic
Party has the right to determine its rules on how the party should be governed.
The people of Nigeria also have the right to determine who governs them.
“Where the president comes from
has never been the problem of Nigeria. There is no such thing as a president
from sSouthern Nigeria, or a president from northern Nigeria.
“There is only one president from
Nigeria, for Nigeria, by Nigerians. Talking about inclusion, I would like to
see a new national working committee of our party, our great party that has
sizable numbers of our youths and women.
“The decision of NEC today will
either see PDP into the villa in 2023 or not. Since the inception, this party
has faced serious challenges and have risen above sentiments to solve those
challenges and moved forward. “
Going down memory lane, Atiku
said, “Now, let me come to historical events, which I said I was going to cite.
“Those of us who served in the constitutional
conference, which drafted the current constitution of Nigeria, sure remember
that after we finished the draft of that constitution, we all met as members of
the constitutional conference and resolved to correct the injustice that was
done to a particular part of this country.
“And we said in whichever party
you found yourself, your presidential candidate must come from the southwest
because Abiola had won election, not only did he win, he was killed.
“So, we all agreed as members,
and we went out of the constitutional conference, and we formed our parties,
those of us formed PDP others formed ANPP, those who formes AD formed AD.
“At the end of the day, there
were two alliances in two parties. PDP brought General Obasanjo, ANPP brought
Olu Falae. This is to show you that Nigerians have a sense of fairness.“
He then turned to Professor Jerry
Ghana, who was sitting to his right and asked, “is that not what happened in
2003?
To which Gana answered “more or less.”
How I turned down governors’
request to stop OBJ’s second term
Atiku said, “All the PDP
governors and some members of the party met me at the Villa and said that they
were not going to support [then] President Olusegun Obasanjo for a second term,
that I should run.
“I now referred them to the
resolution of NEC where NEC had decided that power should remain in the
southwest for eight years.
“How do you want me to go against
the resolution of NEC and I turned it down, and we moved on. So, this country
has a sense of fairness. This country has a sense of justice, this country has
a sense of fairness.
“Therefore, this thing that is
in-built in our party, we should be able to use it, to embed it, to make sure
today’s deliberation is in the best interest of our party, in the best interest
of Nigeria, which will ultimately give us the victory that we asked for — to go
back to the Villa.”
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