Atiku berates APC for polarising Nigerians, insists on devolution of power

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar yesterday berated the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration for polarising and causing disaffection among Nigerians.

Atiku, who was speaking in Katsina State when he met with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) delegates, said the disunity between the South and North of the country became unprecedented under APC’s rule.

He said the APC came to power with a “very narrow perspective of national representation,” and that the party is overseeing the “highest level of disunity in the country.”

He said unemployment reached its peak under the party’s watch with over 12 million youths unemployed, while insecurity and economic indices have left Nigerians yearning for PDP days in government.

Atiku said rather than continue with what the PDP had built from 1999 to 2015, the APC plunged the country into intractable problems, which the country is still suffering from, adding that the best thing was for Nigerians to return PDP to power.

Speaking during the event, a gubernatorial aspirant and former deputy governor of the state, Garba Faskari said what the country needs was quality leadership and not empty chanting of the Change mantra.

Faskari said the APC-led government promised Nigerians so much but delivered so little, adding that what PDP had done while in office was evidence of its quality leadership style.

However, Atiku also said Nigeria may not witness meaningful development under the present administration due to the over concentration of statutory powers at the centre.

The former Vice President, who spoke when he met with PDP delegates in Kano, argued that devolving more powers to states would bring government closer to the people, adding that APC was ignorant of his agitation for restructuring the country.

Meanwhile, former governor of Jigawa State and presidential hopeful on the platform of the PDP, Sule Lamido, has condemned Atiku’s comment that he (Lamido) should step down for him, saying he is Atiku’s senior in politics.

Atiku had asked Lamido to step down for him in the presidential primary at the PDP secretariat in Dutse during his visit to the state to rally support ahead of party’s presidential primaries.

The former Vice President was said to have referred to Lamido as his younger brother and related the incident with what happened in the 1993 election under the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Katsina State when Umaru Musa Yar’Adua stepped down for his elder brother Shehu Musa Yar’Adua.