Atiku says Nigeria’s future should not be subjected to ‘leadership experimentation’

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the future of Nigeria should not be subjected to “leadership experimentation”, insisting that there is leadership vacuum in the country.

Speaking at his formal presidential declaration on Wednesday in Abuja on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the former vice president expressed optimism that the opposition party will form the next government in 2015.

This will be the third time Atiku will run for the presidency in this Fourth Republic, the first as standard bearer of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in 2007 where he lost to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in the 2007 presidential poll as well as presidential aspirant of the PDP in 2011 where he was defeated by incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan at the party’s presidential primaries.

Addressing supporters at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre which was filled to capacity with an overflow, Atiku, clad in navy blue caftan and cap to match, likened his passion for governance to that of a man who wants to do more.

The APC presidential aspirant insisted that “there is so much more to be done in fixing Nigeria”, adding that he has the political acumen to lead the country.

Reminiscing his years as vice president of the country between 1999 and 2007 at the inception of the Fourth Republic, he said although not all of Nigeria’s challenges were resolved in his eight years as number two citizen of Nigeria, he maintained that “no one would say that there was leadership vacuum or lack of commitment, plan and execution. We know the story today”.

The APC, he said, remains strong and capable of fulfilling the nation’s thirst for change.

According to him, the environment for doing business and the nation’s ranking in the “world competitiveness index have worsened”. Details later…