PDP governors use huge amounts of money to buy arms for youths - Atiku

Former Vice-President Atiku
Abubakar on Saturday said he
cautioned some Peoples
Democratic Party governors
against arming the youth for
the purpose of winning
elections.

Atiku while speaking in an
interview on the Hausa Service
of the British Broadcasting
Corporation monitored in
Kaduna on Saturday said his
advice was not heeded.

He also said he would not leave
the ruling PDP despite the
unfair treatment meted to him.

Atiku said he would rather
remain in the party and fight
the injustice being perpetrated
by the leadership of the party.

He said the series of restrictions
imposed on him by the party
was because the party
chieftains were afraid of him
and his opposition to illegalities
in the party.

When asked whether he would
contest for the presidency in
2015, Atiku replied that 2015
was too far for him to decide.

Speaking on how he cautioned
some state governors against
buying arms and ammunition
for the youth, Atiku said,
"During our time when there
was such crisis in Yobe, you
saw how we tackled it. First of
all, we sent undercover agents
who mixed up with the
insurgents and understood
their modus operandi. When
the report was brought to us,
we then sent security agents
who rounded up the enclave,
arrested some of them and
killed those that had to be
killed.

"When we formed the PDP and
candidates emerged, the
governors earmarked huge
amounts of money to buy arms
for youth groups so as to use
them in winning thte election.

"I met and told them that if they
used them and after winning
the election, they fail to provide
them with jobs, they will rise
against the people in their
states. These are the youths
who later turned into the Niger
Delta militants you've been
hearing about. Also, a similar
thing happened in the North, I
met a governor and told him
that these youths you
assembled and called ECOMOG
will become dangerous later
and that was what eventually
happened. I spoke to all these
governors, I alerted all of them."

He, added that the proposed
amnesty for Boko Haram was a
good initiative, adding that,
"Ours is just to advise the
government. But there is no
advice that the elders have not
given the government. Look at
the Lemu Committee report, the
government did nothing about
it."

On why the PDP could not
resolve the disagreements
between him and the chairman
of the party, Atiku said, "We are
all working together now, it is
only the governor (Murtala
Nyako) that we are not working
with. He feels because he is in
power, he can do whatever he
likes. But when you are in
power and you decide not to
be just, you will definitely see
what you don't like."

Atiku said it was unfortunate
that the ruling party was
enmeshed in crisis, adding that,
"This crisis is certainly not good
and it will be nice to sit down
and resolve it. Such
misunderstanding shouldn't
have come about at all.
"Both sides are to be blamed.

The governors have separated
themselves and maintain that it
is only what they want that they
will do in their states, the
President is saying it is not so.

The way out is to come back, sit
down and resolve the issues."

Speaking on a paper he
delivered in Geneva, the former
vice-president noted that there
was no difference between
democracy in Nigeria and
military rule.

He said, "After the military
handed over power, the
majority of those that took over
power from them were ex-
military men. When they took
over, instead of running affairs
as in a democracy, they
resorted to running affairs as if
it were in a military regime.
Whoever did not like what they
wanted was blacklisted. That is
not right.

"So, that was the shape
Nigerian democracy took
afterward. Sadly, the politicians
who are not ex-military
inherited that attitude. They
thought such attitude would
benefit them and continued
with it. Unless we desist from
that kind of attitude, do away
with dishonesty and injustice in
the party and in government,
progress will elude us."