TheCable

Fateema Muhammed, director-general of Atikunation Independent Campaign Group (ICG), says 2019 is the “Atiku year”.

In an interview with Global Excellence, Muhammed said the group aims to introduce the “real Alhaji Abubakar to Nigerians” and to “campaign and mobilize the electorate to vote for him”.

According to her, Abubakar is the right candidate to take Nigeria and Nigerians to the promise land.

Asked if the group had his support, she said: “I will only ask you to watch as events unfold. Very soon you will have answersto this question by His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar himself.

“ICG was initiated by me, Hon. Fateema Abubakar. My team, some of who are in the national and state executives, bought into the idea and together we contacted all those who sincerely desired to see the end of hardship in Nigeria, the kind of hardship Nigerians have been experiencing since this government came into power in 2015.

“We all agreed that the best candidate that can reconcile all the ethnic groups, tribes in Nigeria, restore our economy and move Nigeria to the desired Promised Land where she rightly belongs is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

“2019 is certainly the Atiku year. The signs are there. If you care to know, Atiku, as we speak, is Nigeria’s largest private employer of labour with over 50,000 employees.

“Dangote probably comes next with 26,000 employees. That tells you that Atiku is the best person to be given the job to change the Nigerian economy positively in the next dispensation. And these are the very reasons Nigerian are ready to vote him into power in 2019.”

Muhammed further said Abubakar made the best decision by resigning from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

She added that she would advise him to return to the PDP despite the crisis that plagued the party.

“Yes, he took the best decision by resigning from APC and this certainly will advance his political career,” she said.

“I will prefer he continues with PDP. There’s no organization without crisis. As small as a nuclear family is, it is not without crisis.”

On the advise issued to Abubakar to beg former President Olusegun Obasanjo if he is to have a stake in the 2019 election, Muhammed said, “everyone in Nigeria has something to contribute to Atiku’s political aspiration.

“So, we have to cast our votes in for him to win the next presidential election. The person you are referring to is Atiku’s elder, and we must respect our elders.”