Why I declined to run against Obasanjo – Atiku

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday adduced reasons he refused to run against former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003.

He said he declined the invitation, which would have made him to contest for the presidential ticket of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, on moral grounds.

Atiku, who was responding to a remark from one of the participants in his South-West consultative meeting in Ibadan, Oyo State on Thursday,  noted that contrary to the notion that his best chance to have become the president of the country was in 2003-when stakeholders in the PDP offered him the opportunity to contest against Obasanjo – he still found it difficult to accept the offer because doing so would be going against the position the PDP had earlier taken at a caucus meeting to retain the presidency in the South.

A statement issued by Atiku’s media office in Abuja said the former vice president noted that his ambition and indeed that of any politician could not be realised in negation to party decisions.

“Yes, I may nurse legitimate ambition, but I am not the kind of person who will want to climb the political ladder because an opportunity cheaply presents itself. You don’t have to stand in the way of commitment to party decisions because you stand the opportunity to benefit from an infraction,” Atiku said.

The statement said a snap vote taken at the end of the South West leg of the consultative meeting showed that the All Progressives Congress was the preferred party with 60 per cent, Peoples Democratic Movement followed with 29 per cent, while support for the PDP was said to be 11 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government also hosted Atiku in continuation of his nationwide consultation with his associates and stakeholders.

The former vice-president, who arrived mid-day, was said to have headed straight to pay a courtesy visit to the Oyo State governor, Abiola Ajimobi in his office.

The governor, while receiving Atiku and his entourage, extolled the former vice-president as a “broad-based, principled and consummate politician.”

Atiku said to Ajimobi, “My most memorable days in my civil service career were in Ibadan. So, I say this is a kind of a home-coming.

“I want to say that since the Ajimobi administration took off, there have been positive changes in the city of Ibadan in terms of infrastructure development.”

PUNCH