<\/p>\n
A leading presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives
\nCongress (APC), Atiku Abubakar has declared that he has fully reconciled
\nwith his former boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo.<\/p>\n
The former Vice President also identified waste, poor management and
\nfailure to diversify the economy by the current administration as the
\nreason for the adverse economic impact of the fall in oil price.<\/p>\n
Atiku affirmed at an interactive session with the Catholic Bishops of
\nNigeria Conference (CBNC) that there is no animosity left in the
\nrelationship with his former boss and that bygones are bygones.<\/p>\n
Atiku made this revelation at a parley he held with representatives of the
\nCatholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in Abuja. He made the declaration
\nin reaction to the anxiety expressed by the Most Reverend Anthony Obinna,
\nArchbishop of Owerri and his counterpart from Calabar, the Most Reverend
\nJoseph Ekuwem. Both Clergymen expressed disappointment at the celebrated
\nface-off between these two men when they were in power as President and
\nVice President between 1999-2003.<\/p>\n
Dr Obinna said that in 1999, both Obasanjo and Atiku started well to the
\nadmiration and high expectation of Nigerians, only for the people to be
\ndisappointed when rift and ill-will developed between them thereby
\nderailing the progress of the nation. Dr Obinna lamented that the
\npolitical elite has failed the nation tracing today\u2019s problem of
\ninsecurity and corruption to the failure of the political elite. He asked
\nthe former Vice President to assure the nation\u2019s Catholics that the rift
\nis over and that such would not occur again.<\/p>\n
Describing the Turaki Adamawa as an open-minded individual, the Archbishop
\nof Owerri said he is impressed by Atiku\u2019s interest and commitment to
\nnational unity and fairness.<\/p>\n
Responding to the concerns of the Clergy men on the insurgency ravaging
\nthe country, and the accompanying insecurity, the APC presidential
\nfront-runner told the CNBC led by the Most Reverend (Dr.) Ignatius Kaigama
\nthat it is the duty of the political and military leadership to crush
\ninsurgency whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.<\/p>\n
Atiku reminded the Bishops that when he was in government with Obasanjo as
\nPresident, an insurgent group, known then as Nigerian Taliban started
\nproblem in the North east but was crushed within three weeks. The APC
\npresidential aspirant revealed that the Obasanjo administration in which
\nhe was the deputy moved so fast to uproot the insurgents that many
\nNigerians till today do not even remember there was an insurgency.<\/p>\n
He also said that aside crushing insurgency through leadership, the leader
\nshould also mobilize resources to provide socio-economic opportunities and
\nan enabling environment to keep youths and the able-bodied productively
\nengaged while the military need training and re-training to make them
\nefficient.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the state of the economy, the leading APC presidential
\naspirant said that had we been able to diversify and manage our economy in
\nsuch a way that we conserve rather than waste our resources in surplus
\nyears, the present austerity measure would not be necessary.<\/p>\n
According to the former Vice President, period of boom and austerity occur
\nin circles in capitalist economies but to minimize the impact and ensure
\nthat the citizens do not suffer during the drought years depends on what
\nthe leadership did with the years of plenty.<\/p>\n
The APC presidential hopeful recalled the years of his Vice Presidency
\nwhen the administration he served in was moved to create the Sovereign
\nWealth Fund by the desire to have a fallback position for the nation\u2019s
\neconomy. He said the idea behind the Fund is to have a pool where excess
\nresources can be pooled to take care of the years of drought.<\/p>\n
Atiku revealed that it was also this problem and the need to streamline
\nthe country\u2019s alarming debt profile when he was in power with former
\nPresident Obasanjo that compelled him to get the World Bank to assign then
\nDr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to join his economic team in the Presidency to
\nlocate and collate the country\u2019s actual debt for liquidation. He said the
\ncurrent Minister of Finance worked in his office for nine months and that
\nthe effort culminated in the establishment of the Debt Management Office
\n(DMO).<\/p>\n
He stated that careful management of resources and diversification of the
\neconomy is the responsibility of a committed and focused leadership and
\nurged Nigerians to use the opportunity of the 2015 polls to choose the
\nright person and political party to lead the country.<\/p>\n
He identified the issue of indigeneship as a serious impediment to unity
\namong Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Atiku said the prevailing situation where young and innocent Nigerians who
\nare born in places other than where their parents come from and who have
\nspent their entire lives in those parts of the country are discriminated
\nagainst as non- indigenes is not good for the country.<\/p>\n
He said everything must be done by political, community and religious
\nleaders to combat the issue of indigeneship and allow Nigerian citizens no
\nmatter their ethnic origin to be free in any part of the country they were
\nborn or reside.<\/p>\n
The Turaki Adamawa told the Bishops that it is unfortunate that a Nigerian
\nwould go to the US or some European country to give birth to a child and
\nthe later would instantly acquire American citizenship while in Nigeria,
\nindigeneship question dominate our discourse.<\/p>\n
He called on religious leaders to preach against this issue and encourage
\ntheir congregation to love one another and promote national unity. He said
\nthe problem of disunity is not insurmountable because everyone listens to
\nreligious leaders and tend to trust them.<\/p>\n
On the issue of inability to access land for the building of Churches and
\nschools by religious bodies in some parts of the country, the APC
\npresidential aspirant said this problem is due to ignorance which can be
\nsolved by good leadership. He said that even in the societies more Islamic
\nthan some parts of Nigeria, one would see churches being built for
\nChristian worshippers who are minorities adding that Islam does not
\nencourage discrimination.<\/p>\n
Some of the Bishops also raised the problem of school ownership and how
\nthey are not allowed access to their schools even when they pay ground
\nrent to the authorities especially in some parts of the North. Atiku said
\nsuch should not obtain at least not when education has been deregulated.
\nHe told the Catholic Bishops that his government would put an end to all
\nsuch injustice and oppression.<\/p>\n
Atiku told the Bishops that he needed to see them and rub minds because of
\nthe fact that they constitute a “strong moral voice in our society and
\nthat for that reason, our country needs them more than before in view of
\nthe problems facing the country, and the need for all and sundry to work
\ntogether to salvage the nation.”<\/p>\n
He said it is important that he presents himself before the clergy so that
\nthey can meet him in flesh aside information about him that may be
\navailable to them through third parties so that he can discuss his plan
\nwith them.<\/p>\n
Atiku said the meeting is important to him because of the thorough and
\npainstaking way; the Catholic Church trains its clergy adding that at a
\ndifficult time like this when the nation is in dire straits, the Catholic
\nClergy are important in helping a distressed nation to find the true path.<\/p>\n
Atiku lamented to their Lordships that “our country is going through very
\ndifficult times, especially general insecurity all over the country, but
\nparticularly in the North east and which is spreading but unfortunately
\npoorly managed.”<\/p>\n
He told his audience that all religious leaders, Christian and Muslim
\nalike, need to moderate their language when commenting on the present
\ninsurgency adding however that the nation expects them (the Clergy); to
\nspeak out and help proffer solutions to the insurgency as no one would
\naccuse them of seeking political advantage.<\/p>\n
The frontline presidential aspirant further urged the religious leaders to
\ndo their best to reverse the present division and polarization of the
\nnation on religious and ethnic lines adding that it would not do the
\nnation any good.<\/p>\n
He disclosed that he is a strong believer in the separation of religion
\nand the state.<\/p>\n
The APC presidential front-runner took the Bishops on an excursion of his
\nplan for the country if elected President on the ticket of the APC. He
\ndiscussed in detail his plans in the area of infrastructure provision,
\neconomic diversification, education, and security, devolution of powers,
\nanti-corruption war and electoral reform.<\/p>\n
In their response, the Bishops thanked the presidential aspirant for
\nfinding time from his busy schedule to exchange views with them and
\nintimate the Catholic community in the country of his political ambition.<\/p>\n
The Chairman of the session and President of the Catholic Bishops
\nConference of Nigeria, the Most Reverend Ignatius Kaigama, who is also the
\nArchbishop of Jos described Atiku\u2019s presentation as “Food for thought that
\nsounds presidential.” Their Lordships congratulated him on his birthday
\nand wished him many more birthdays and God\u2019s blessing in his quest to lead
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
The Most Reverend Anthony Obinna, the Archbishop of Owerri caused general
\nlaughter when he told the Turaki that he is older than him by a few
\nmonths. Dr Obinna later led the gathering in solemn prayers for the
\nsuccess of the Turaki’s political ambition and God\u2019s mercy and blessing on
\nthe nation.<\/p>\n
The Archbishop of Owerri expressed delight on the open-mindedness of the
\nformer Vice President adding that they have taken note of his position on
\nnational issues. Similarly, the Most Reverend Emmanuel Badejo, Bishop of
\nUyo thanked the aspirant for what he called “his impressive address,” and
\ndrawing attention to the Turaki’s concern for enduring national unity and
\nthe emergence of a true Nigerian nation. Atiku later took questions and
\ncomments from their Lordships based on his presentation.<\/p>\n
Other Catholic Bishops present were the Most Reverend Joseph Ekuwem,
\nArchbishop of Calabar, Augustine Ukwuoma, Bishop of Orlu, Dr Lucius
\nUgorji, Bishop of Umuahia, John Okoye, Bishop of Awgu, Alfred Martins,
\nBishop of Lagos and John Niyiring, Bishop of Kano. Also in attendance was
\nthe Secretary General of the Secretariat of the Catholic Bishops
\nConference of Nigeria, Reverend Father Ralph Madu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A leading presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar has declared that he has fully reconciled with his former boss, former President Olusegun…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n