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Atiku 7 things El-Rufai said about ex VP dumping APC
There’s been no love lost between former Nigeria Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Kaduna Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai.
You only need to read ‘The Accidental Public Servant’ to reach that conclusion.
Atiku and El-Rufai have also attacked the other in the past. They fell out during the Obasanjo years when Atiku supervised El-Rufai’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
So, when El-Rufai learnt that Atiku has dumped the APC, he left us with these seven of the best….
1. El-Rufai says Atiku was never in the APC
Here’s the Kaduna State Governor: “Well, I won’t even say Atiku and I were in the APC together. Some of us formed the APC, some of them joined because they thought that the APC was a platform for which they will contest election but when they didn’t get the opportunity they started looking around”.
2. El-Rufai says Atiku’s defection is good riddance
“I have heard about what the former Vice President said about leaving the APC. We knew he was going to leave in December but he has left in November which is good because the earlier he leaves for where he belongs, the better.
“He has changed political parties a few times, there is nothing surprising. Before the 2019 elections, if situation changes and he thinks he can get the ticket in 2019 he will come back. That is what he has done a few times”.
3. ‘No APC Governor will leave with Atiku’
“I don’t know about the loyalists in the APC that will go with him but I want to assure you that there is no one Governor in the APC that is going to go with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“The only Governor that he would think will go with him, the Governor of Adamawa State has already endorsed President Buhari for the 2019 elections”, El-Rufai says.
4. El-Rufai says Governors have endorsed Buhari for a second term
“And there are many Governors…I will not mention the number but a majority of the APC Governors have already taken the position that the president should run for a second term in office.
“I’m curious to see which APC Governor will go with Atiku. As for party loyalists it depends on what you defend as loyalists. We will wait and see how that evolves”.
5. El-Rufai calls Atiku a serial contestant
“No one has driven him out of the party, the APC is an equal opportunity platform for everyone. He has in his statement of leaving the party made reference to the memo I wrote to Mr. President in September 2016, where I was calling on the President to reach out to party leaders that feel aggrieved and I mentioned him, the Asiwaju and many others.
All the times Atiku has dumped one political party for another
“The others are still in the APC because they believe in the direction of the party, they believe we have come to save the country from a very bad situation. But the former Vice President is always looking for an opportunity to contest. He is a serial contestant and we wish him luck”.
6. El-Rufai tells Atiku that he’ll never be a threat to Buhari
“He has never been and will never be a threat to President Buhari. Let me say this very clearly, and I have said this to the former Vice President in 2014 in Dubai when we met. Because before joining the APC, he sent for me. He told me of his intentions and I welcomed it because politics is a game of addition not subtraction. So the more you have the merrier.
“However, I told him not to run for the presidency because I believe very strongly this is Buhari’s era”.
7. El-Rufai says this is Buhari’s time
“As long as President Muhammadu Buhari is in politics, I do not see any Nigerian from the northern part of the country that will be able to match him in popularity. The people of the 19 northern states and Nigeria have decided because of the president’s past history of integrity and good governance ,they are committed to him.
“Anyone standing up to challenge him is wasting his time. God has decreed that this is Buhari’s time and we are waiting for the PDP to give Atiku Abubakar the ticket and we will face him on the field. But I have no doubt that I will not lose any sleep over it”, El-Rufai says
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