By Ade Martins-
Nigeria’s main opposition leader Atiku Abubakar(pictured) launched his presidential election campaign on Wednesday echoing promises made by past presidents to transform the country from its sorry state.
Nigeria, a country bless3ed with national resources, has struggled to fully benefit from its fruits, as corruption kills the potential of the country. Abubakar says he will bring the change Nigerians has been crying for over many decades.
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) promised to restructure Nigeria and devolve power for the benefit of federating units.
Atiku began his presidential campaign with the launch of his memoirs packaged in three different books. He urged Nigerians to keep hope alive, saying help is on the way.
The event featured the inauguration of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council and was attended by governors from the troubled PDP party, ex-governors, and top chieftains of the party, among others.
“There is over-concentration in the Federal Government with multiple duplications of agencies leading to the creation of parallel bureaucracies,” Atiku said in a broadcast late Wednesday.
“The federating units shall benefit from the devolution of powers to increase their productive capacity for synergy and collaboration with each other.”
Don Pedro, Atiku’s media representative was selling the vision to a country desperate for change.
Appearing on Arise Television’s Morning Show, Obaseki said, “I was happy when he explained [how he is going to restructure the country]. He explained a strong centre and a strong federating unit and that was clear.
“He is using something very close to the American model. We’re practising the American presidential system without taking the American federal structure.
“So the centre should be as strong as it should so as to hold the country together. He will ensure all the federation units can take almost half the things in the exclusive list.
“And when that is done, there is almost automatic devolution of power to the next [level] of government – the state. And when that is done there’ll be fewer calls for the dismembering of this country.
“And he has been singing it even prior to his running in 2019. Don’t forget in 2018, Atiku Abubakar launched the Nigerian restructuring movement. As he grows older, the only legacy he can leave Nigeria is a stable polity.”
Nigeria’s next leader will have the unenviable burden of having to address multiple issues in the country, including corruption, terrorism and extremism, insecurity and high inflation.
Abubakar, 75, and a former vice president between 1999-2007 is running for the third time. He said a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) government would rebuild the economy, improve security and the education sector and run a smaller government.
Abubakar will have to defeat ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu and the Labour Party’s popular Peter Obi, his former running mate in 2019.
The PDP party has been in turmoil over the past few months over disputes surrounding the presidential ticket. after an influential faction boycotted Wednesday’s event as it pushes for the chairman, Abubakar’s ally, to quit.
Abubakar has previously said he would give more power to the 36 states, remove the oil subsidy and privatize the national oil firm and allow the private sector a greater role in the economy.
Polls in Nigeria are unreliable, but Tinubu and Abubakar – both septuagenarian political veterans – lead the two biggest political parties that have ruled Nigeria since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
As campaigns for the 2023 general elections tooe off , the civil society group, Centre for Transparency Advocacy, CTA challenged presidential candidates of political parties to unveil to Nigerians plans to tackle the energy and insecurity challenges facing the country.
Nigerians are generally sceptical of its political leaders so much that its youths have gathered a big army to support Peter Obi, who has an impeccable record of leadership from his tenure as governor of Anambra State. Youths are going for him, but a number of experts believe the political structure and machinery of Nigeria will make it less likely for Obi to win the presidency.