The All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked the allegations by former vice president and chieftain of the party, Atiku Abubakar that he has been sidelined by the party.
The National Vice Chairman (North West) of the APC , Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, who disclosed this on Friday during a press conference at the party secretariat in Abuja said by virtue of Atiku’s position as a former vice president and age, he is expected to act and speak with decorum.
According to him, 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.
The fomer vice president 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”.
But Inuwa 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.
“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. “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.
“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”. On the issue of consultation with the President, Inuwa said, “Though I am not in the Villa, it is an open secret that whoever visited the president is no longer a secret. Whoever is meeting the president of Nigeria more than 20 people will know and the information will be shared. As a matter of fact, several times, Atiku Abubakar has visited Mr. President and what they discussed, we don’t know but we know that he has visited.
I am sure he is not just there to greet him. Could two leaders meet without discussing one thing or the other”, he queried. Speaking on the Minister of Women Affairs, Aisha Jummai Alhassan’s comment on 2019, the APC national chairman stated that since Alhassan is no longer comfortable with the administration of President Buhari who appointed her, the best thing for her is to resign. He said,
“You are making such suggestion in respect of your principal in public; this is something she can discuss with her principal expressing her position. And if you feel it should be made public, then you are saying that I’m no longer comfortable with this situation, if this situation should continue I’m not comfortable with it.
“Whether Buhari has said that he will recontest or not is immaterial, what is material is, a serving Minister should not be seen to be making public statement that suggests they are not on the same page as a member. In order places the right thing is for her to resign, that she can no longer continue to be in this circle anymore, because my spirit and thoughts are no more in conformity with this team, so we can no more work together. She has the opportunity to do that. So, you cannot eat your cake and have it, which is the situation. As high as that office is, people resign and leave on principle”.
