Nigeria risks one-party dictatorship – Atiku warns

By Umar Muhammad Puma

Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar has warned the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against one party dictatorship in the build up to the 2015 general election.

Speaking to APC leaders from Bauchi state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at an interactive session yesterday in Abuja, Atiku said that the “arrogance” of the ruling PDP has reached a point where the country can no longer bear it.

“Here is a warning to all Nigerians,” Atiku said. “A ruling party that barred its members from running against the President in the primaries this year will, if care is not taken bar the entire citizens of the country from challenging him four years down the road.”

Atiku went spiritual, by quoting the Bible, Proverbs, and Chapter 29 Verse 2, which says: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn”.

“This, he said “applies to both faiths. We cannot continue like this.”

The former Vice President said opportunity was now in the air, given the failure of the ruling PDP, which is aided by the healthy development of the coming together of the entire opposition elements in the country.

“For the first time under this democracy, Nigerians have the chance and opportunity to ensure that a change is effected,” Atiku enthused.

The former Vice President, who said he is the only candidate with a plan to reduce the enormous powers of the federation through a systematic devolution of power to the states, warned that “four more years of mandate will spell the death knell of democracy in the country. One-party dictatorship is bad and we must change.

Atiku, in his address to the delegates said the powers of the federal government needed to be reduced if effective governance is to return to Nigeria. This, he argued, will also reduce the cut-throat competition for power at the center.

Responding to the litany of cries over insecurity and the lack of development in the North-East geopolitical zone, Atiku agreed that the region was the country’s least in terms of development, and that on this, even the United Nations agencies are in agreement.

Speaking to the FCT delegates, Atiku said the country was currently faced with “bad resources management, insecurity, ethnic and religious disharmony and most importantly, we have poverty imposed on us. We have no reason to be poor because we have endowments in human and material resources. “Sadly,” he noted, “we have failed to utilize them due to poor leadership”.

“For the first time under this democracy, Nigerians have the chance and opportunity to ensure that a change is effected,” Atiku enthused.

The FCT delegation promised him 90 per cent of their delegates while their Bauchi counterparts pledged 100 per cent support.