A presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar has declared that he has fully reconciled with former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The former Vice President also identified waste, poor management and failure to diversify the economy by the current administration as the reason for the adverse economic impact of the fall in oil price.
Atiku affirmed at an interactive session with the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria Conference (CBNC) that there is no animosity left in the relationship with his former boss and that bygones are bygones.
Atiku made this revelation at a parley he held with representatives of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in Abuja. He made the declaration in reaction to the anxiety expressed by the Most Reverend Anthony Obinna, Archbishop of Owerri and his counterpart from Calabar, the Most Reverend Joseph Ekuwem. Both Clergymen expressed disappointment at the celebrated face-off between these two men when they were in power as President and Vice President between 1999 and 2003.
Dr Obinna said that in 1999, both Obasanjo and Atiku started well to the admiration and high expectation of Nigerians, only for the people to be disappointed when rift and ill-will developed between them thereby derailing the progress of the nation. Dr Obinna lamented that the political elite has failed the nation tracing today’s problem of insecurity and corruption to the failure of the political elite. He asked the former Vice President to assure the nation’s Catholics that the rift is over and that such would not occur again.
Describing the Turaki Adamawa as an open-minded individual, the Archbishop of Owerri said he is impressed by Atiku’s interest and commitment to national unity and fairness.
Responding to the concerns of the Clergy men on the insurgency ravaging the country, and the accompanying insecurity, the APC presidential front-runner told the CNBC led by the Most Reverend (Dr.) Ignatius Kaigama that it is the duty of the political and military leadership to crush insurgency whenever and wherever it rears its ugly head.
Atiku reminded the Bishops that when he was in government with Obasanjo as President, an insurgent group, known then as Nigerian Taliban started problem in the North east but was crushed within three weeks. The APC presidential aspirant revealed that the Obasanjo administration in which he was the deputy moved so fast to uproot the insurgents that many Nigerians till today do not even remember there was an insurgency.
