By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – A son of a prominent Nigerian Politician, Waziri Yahaya Kwande has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded as President because he had an astute politician who was his Vice President, Alh. Atiku Abubakar.
Kwande who contested in the just-concluded primary election of the House of Representative in Plateau State, said all that Obasanjo made his greatest achievements in his first tenure when he gave Abubakar a free hand to operate.
Speaking with our correspondent in Jos Thursday, Kwande said most of the people that served in Obasanjo’s government and turned the economy around were brought in by Abubakar who single-handedly identified the potentials in them.
“In the era of Obasanjo, when Abubakar was the Vice President, he was almost just like the President in the first four years. What Obasanjo’s government achieved in those first four years was better than wh
A son of a prominent Nigerian Politician, Waziri Yahaya Kwande has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo succeeded as President because he had an astute politician who was his Vice President, Alh. Atiku Abubakar.
Kwande who contested in the just-concluded primary election of the House of Representative in Plateau State, said that Obasanjo made his greatest achievements in his first tenure when he gave Abubakar a free hand to operate.
Speaking with our correspondent in Jos Thursday, Kwande said most of the people that served in Obasanjo’s government and turned the economy around were brought in by Abubakar who single-handedly identified the potentials in them.
“In the era of Obasanjo, when Abubakar was the Vice President, he was almost just like the President in the first four years. What Obasanjo’s government achieved in those first four years was better than what he achieved in his second term when he caged his vice president.
“Most of the people that performed in Obasanjo’s government were brought in by Atiku. People like the former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai who was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, just to mention but a few”, Kwande said.
On whether Atiku would be accepted by Southern Nigeria in respect to the current argument of power shift, Kwande said no politician has a national spread like Atiku.
“There is no part of this country where Atiku does not have an influential ally. Don’t forget that he was the leader of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) that brought Obasanjo to power. So when you think about it you can see that he was the one that brought Obasanjo to power.
“The south will vote for him because they believe in his capabilities to turn things around. He has touched many lives in every region and the south can attest to this.
“He is the man to beat. There is nobody who has been aspiring to be the president of this country like Atiku. He definitely has something to offer. He cannot be looking for president for this long without having something to offer”, he said.
