I’ll rule for only one term – Atiku

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has promised to rule for a single term of four years if he wins the 2011 presidential election.


Abubakar, who was chosen on Monday as the consensus aspirant of the Northern Political Leaders Forum, said on Wednesday that he was in the race to complete the second term of the tenure of the late President, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua.


The Director of Media and Publicity of his campaign organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, who stated this in a telephone interview with THE PUNCHon Wednesday, said there was no doubt about his principal’s desire to rule for only four years.


He said, “There is no doubt that he wants to rule for only four years. He has said so and even told a foreign television station on Tuesday that he would run for a single term. You can quote me on that.


“His determination is just to complete the tenure of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua because the Presidency was zoned to the North for eight years in 2007. He will only complete the remaining four years and return power to the South.”


He, however, did not state the part of the South he would hand over to.


Meanwhile, the other three aspirants that Abubakr defeated to emerge as consensus aspirant have promised to give him total cooperation. The aspirants, Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki; former National Security Adviser, Lt.-Gen. Aliyu Gusau (retd.); and a former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), said their preoccupation was to make sure that Abubakar emerged as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.


They also vowed to ensure his victory in the presidential election.


In a statement signed by the directors-general of their campaign organisations, the trio thanked the Consensus Candidate Selection Committee headed by Malam Adamu Ciroma “for the able, mature and statesmanly way it handled the process that led to the selection of a consensus candidate from among the four aspirants.


“We also wish to congratulate His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice-President of Nigeria on his selection as the consensus candidate from among the four aspirants. No doubt, the completion of this phase of the selection process, signals the beginning of real hard work to unite our nation, and reconcile the differences that separate our people.”


“We are amply reassured that Atiku Abubakar has the requisite democratic credentials and strategic capacity to turn around our national fortune for the better and will provide the kind of visionary and reform-minded leadership that will impact positively on all national sectors, including but not limited to security of life and property, stable power supply, food sufficiency and agricultural transformation, the Niger Delta peace process, job creation, educational and health sector reforms and the revamping of our public infrastructure.”


Also on Wednesday, the Mega Progressive Peoples Party announced its decision to adopt Abubakar as its presidential candidate.


The party’s Deputy National Chairman (North), Alhaji Babangida Mohammed, who handed over the party’s resolution to the Director-General of Atiku Campaign Organisation, Mr. Chris Mammah, in Abuja, described the former vice-president as a detribalised Nigerian.