Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has expressed dismay over his being ‘sidelined’ by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress(APC) administration.
Atiku, who spoke to the Hausa Service of Voice of America(VOA) yesterday, lamented that he used his human and material resources to ensure victory for the party at the last presidential election, said he has not been consulted over any issue since Buhari was sworn in.
“I was part of the campaign team that criss-crossed the country to canvass for votes and we emerged victorious, but since after the government was formed, truly speaking, the government no longer relates with me. I have not been consulted on any issue and I haven’t
given advice on any issue”, he said.
The APC chieftain further said this strained relationship extends to even party matters. He pointed out that “it is close to three years since the administration came to power, but we have met just once as a party.”
The former vice president also said that the war against corruption has fallen short of people’s expectation because the administration has not yet revealed how much it has seized from people who are suspected to have corruptly enriched themselves.
“When our government came on board in 1999, the administration revealed that it had collected about $4.6 or $4.7 billion from people who stole money during the Abacha regime,” he argued.
The Wazirin Adamawa also expressed surprise at the inability of past and the present administrations to completely crush Boko Haram insurgents.
He said in spite of the partial success of the Buhari administration, the insurgents are still attacking areas in the North East zone.
Atiku argued that “I have never imagined that Nigeria will battle with Boko Haram insurgents for five years without winning the war. We have fought a civil war before, where the battle ground was the thick forest of the south but within 30 months, the war was over. But for five years, we are still battling with Boko Haram.’’
On his much speculated presidential ambition, Atiku said there is need for the component parts of the country to understand each other as well as live in peace and harmony, “before even talking about contesting in 2019.”
Atiku further said the calls for restructuring shows that people are not satisfied with the way the country is being run, “coupled with the fact that the president is not that healthy.”
