Campaign strategist and ally of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Mr. Phrank Shaibu has described the All Progressives Congress (APC) as one of the biggest disasters to have ever befallen Nigeria, saying President Muhammadu Buhari’s three and a half years in office is a sad reminder of Nigeria's arrested development since 2015 “when the clueless party came to power.”
Phrank Shaibu who was responding to a pro-APC story published in a national daily on Monday, in a statement in Abuja, said there was nothing in TheAtikuPlan to suggest a hidden agenda of two terms in office for Atiku Abubakar.
In the statement entitled Debunking The Myth Of Single Term Presidency In " MY PLAN TO GET NIGERIA WORKING AGAIN," Shaibu said that the document is a product of eighteen months of well researched and widely consulted hard work on how to move Nigeria forward and to speed up the pace of development across all the critical sectors of the economy.
He explained that the reason the policy document was authored to cover up to 2025 and beyond was simply meant to address the volatility and unpredictability of global trade and economics, as most progressive leaders who understand the intricate nature of growing their economies, draw up 10 year strategic vision plans for their nations, even when they well understand that their term in office will not extend to such a period.
Explaining further, Shaibu noted that government was a continuum and as such, a sound and effective development plan can serve several leaders who are desirous of enhancing the welfare and well being of their citizens.
The campaign strategist cited three examples from Nigeria’s recent past where the current administration continued to implement some major projects and policies of the immediate past PDP administration. He listed the projects to include Railway projects, the implementation of the TSA and BVN financial policy, by the Buhari administration, which, according to him, were actually inherited by the sound development plan of the President Goodluck Jonathan era.
“Sadly, the mudslinging intentions and diabolic attempts to divert the campaign away from the real issues that continue to bedevil the country has been given a new twist by the purveyors of negative propaganda. This category of persons have simply overlooked the salient points contained in the “My plan to get Nigeria working again” document to invoke ethnic and divisive sentiments by insinuating that the document has exposed a hidden agenda of a second term plan by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and by so doing are directly provoking the South East or even south-west into erroneously believing that they have no stake in 2023”
With all these, it is obvious that “My Plan to get Nigeria working Again”, is indeed a comprehensive work plan that has been structured to outlive Atiku's stay in office, even if it was to become a two-term presidency. The mention of 2025 and 2030 as delivery dates for some of the critical components of the plan is a clear demonstration that Atiku's vision reflects the sincerity of his intentions to achieve a better, more progressive Nigeria and the generosity of the mind of a good leader who thinks ahead in a selfless manner for common good.
What Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has done is simply acknowledging that Nigeria will exist beyond his tenure as such he has set down a roadmap to make the work easier for those that will take over and continue the good work of reviving Nigeria from its comatose state under Buhari and the APC.
Indeed, working with a man like Peter Obi, who incidentally is from the South East and whose sterling track record as a financial guru and economic master-strategist, speaks volumes for the expansive nationalistic vision of Atiku Abubakar.”
The campaign strategist called on the APC to apologise to all Nigerians for bringing them nothing but the suffering of unquantifiable proportion since 2015 and to make a solemn pledge not to have anything to do with governance, especially with the 2019 elections fast approaching.
Read the full statement below:
The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Monday, November 19, 2018, released his development Blueprint for Nigeria, when he becomes President in 2019, entitled, “My Plan to Get Nigeria Working Again,”. Certainly, this is Alhaji Atiku’s first step of action, following the commencement of Presidential and National assembly election campaigns as directed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. It is equally important to note that President Muhammed Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, also released his own development plan titled “Taking Nigeria to the Next Level”.
As to be expected, however, the well-researched and packaged document by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, unlike the one issued by Buhari, has been received with great enthusiasm, critical acclaim and positive analysis by discerning Nigerians, who have at last heaved a sigh of huge relief that the Presidential campaigns will eventually become an issues-based engagement with this document, rather than the smear and personality attacks trend which the All Progressives Congress, APC and its supporters had actually commenced and hoped to spread, immediately Atiku Abubakar emerged as the Presidential candidate of the PDP.
Sadly, the mudslinging intentions and diabolic attempts to divert the campaign away from the real issues that continue to bedevil the country has been given a new twist by the purveyors of negative propaganda.
This category of persons have simply overlooked the salient points contained in the “My plan to get Nigeria working again” document to invoke ethnic and divisive sentiments by insinuating that the document has exposed a hidden agenda of a second term plan by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and by so doing are directly provoking the South East or even south-west into erroneously believing that they have no chance in 2023.
First, it is important to state that the document referred to, is a product of eighteen months of well researched and widely consulted hard work on how to move Nigeria forward. Second, is the fact that in modern democracies, and given the volatility and unpredictability of global trade and economics, most progressive leaders who understand the intricate nature of growing their economies, draw up 10 year strategic vision plans for their nations, even when they well understand that their term in office will not extend to such a period.
The reason is quite simple; the government is a continuum and a sound and effective development plan can serve several leaders who are desirous of enhancing the welfare and well being of their citizens. Three clear examples from Nigeria’s recent past are the continuation of the Railway projects, the implementation of the TSA and BVN financial policy, by the Buhari administration, which was actually inherited by the sound development plan of the President Goodluck Jonathan era.
A cursory look at the “My plan to get Nigeria working again” reveals that there are four key points to note in the policy document released by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. One of them is the promise to create at least three million jobs yearly if elected as Nigeria’s president in the election that comes up in February 2019.
To do this, the former Vice President, reeled out frightening statistics of unemployment today and staggering figures of new entrants into the job market in the last three years said he will launch a new, more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable national Entrepreneurship Development and Job Creation Programme. In addition, target the creation of up to three million self and wage-paying employment opportunities in the private sector annually”.
Furthermore, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said he will “target all categories of youth, including graduates, early school leavers as well as the massive numbers of uneducated youth who are currently not in schools, employment or training.
The document emphasized on creating incubation centres, clusters and industrial/commercial hubs to provide a marketplace for MSMEs and SMPs including championing the repositioning and streamlining the activities of the existing Federal and State Government Job creation Agencies. For every reasonable analyst, this is what is needed in a nation that its weak leadership in the past three years has thrust over ten million citizens in the already overpopulated labour market.
The three other key promises made by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as contained in the development plan will be in the areas of infrastructure development, human capital development and poverty eradication. Atiku has promised to lift 50 million Nigerians out of poverty by 2025 and has equally revealed his plans to privatize the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and sell off all national refineries in the country, even as he also promised to construct 5,000 kilometres of roads as well as 5,000 kilometres of modern railway.
With all these, it is obvious that “My Plan to get Nigeria working Again”, is indeed a comprehensive work plan that has been structured to outlive Atiku's stay in office, even if it was to become a two-term presidency.
The mention of 2025 and 2030 as delivery dates for some of the critical components of the plan is a clear demonstration that Atiku's vision reflects the sincerity of his intentions to achieve a better more progressive Nigeria and the generosity of the mind of a good leader who thinks ahead in a selfless manner for common good.
What Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has done is simply acknowledging that Nigeria will exist beyond his tenure as such he has set down a roadmap to make the work easier for those that will take over and continue the good work of reviving Nigeria from its comatose state under Buhari and the APC. Indeed, working with a man like Peter Obi, who incidentally is from the South East and whose sterling track record as a financial guru and economic master-strategist, speaks volumes for the expansive nationalistic vision of Atiku Abubakar.
Again, the much-vaunted issue of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar pledging to stay in office for one term has been broadly and comprehensively discussed, so there is really no point over flogging a non issue, especially now that the major pre-occupation of the man himself is on how to create jobs, more jobs and fresh opportunities for Nigerians to become fulfilled and happy in the next four years.
More so, the forthcoming presidential debate will give the public another opportunity to hear Atiku speak on his vision to get Nigeria working again and obviously this question of the second term will be addressed. If Atiku was inaccessible, like his opponent Buhari, who has reportedly shied away from public debate and delegated Vice President Osinbajo to speak for him, then there would have been a worry.
Suffice it to say that those that have picked holes in “My plan to get Nigeria working again” document have their personal reasons for injecting conjectures into a straightforward matter. Rather than deconstruct the strategies therein as done above and then demand further explanations on the workability and implementation strategies, they have found comfort in introducing diversionary interpretations by insinuating that the mention of 2025 in the document is a hidden agenda, whereas it is just a plan that will serve Nigeria and Nigerians well beyond the Atiku era.
Indeed, if the 2025 reference is the only fault identified in such a well crafted and thought out analysis on how to best Nigeria, then it means that the critics are in agreement that Atiku's agenda is achievable and contains a good roadmap for the restoration of a nearly destroyed economy. This is why I think that the seeming deliberate misrepresentation of 2025 in the document is merely a diversion and ill intent to diminish a quality plan for a Nation that is in dire need of a real change in leadership and economic rescue.
For now, my candid opinion is that emphasis should be on examining the many failed promises of Buhari and the new promises he has made in his simplistic document called “Taking Nigeria to the Next level”. Sadly, this new Buhari’s document has no platform to stand in the present bad situation of Nigeria that he has foisted on Nigerians.
For now, nothing has changed about Atiku's ambition to rule Nigeria between 2019 - 2023. Indeed, that remains a priority.
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