BY Fredrick Nwabufo
Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, is confident of winning the nomination of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2015 presidential election.
In an interview with TheCable at the weekend, Atiku said none of the other aspirant has covered the ground like him ahead of the presidential primary of Nigeria’s biggest opposition party.
Other aspirants are Muhammadu Buhari, a retired general and former head of state; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, governor of Kano state; and Sam Nda-Isaiah, publisher of Leadership newspaper.
“I have an edge over the rest of them. I know it is not easy. It is difficult,” he said, citing his experience of participating in primaries since 1993 as an advantage for him.
Atiku has been travelling all over the country, meeting with potential delegates to the party’s primary.
“I am really prepared for the primary because this is a game that I have participated in more than the others. In other words, I have been involved in primary election since the early 90s, and that has given me a lot of experience when it comes to primaries whether they are direct or indirect because we have participated in both types of primaries.
“The perception that the ticket is there for Buhari to take is a mistaken perception because Buhari has never participated in any primaries. In the three elections he contested he was simply given the tickets. He did not go through any primaries. I believe that is not going to be helpful to him in this very case.
“As of today, among the five of us who are going to participate in the primaries I am the only one who is running around the country. Nobody else is doing that. Nowadays delegates are more enlightened than before.
“Most of them are very educated and most of them want to engage their candidates in discussions on what is it they have for them, for the electorate and for party. If they have not seen you, not to talk of interacting with you, how would they vote for you?”
He said another factor that will work to his favour is the fact that APC governors do not have the kind of power wielded by those of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“This is not a party that is dominated by the influence of governors… governors trying to force delegates to vote even against their own conscience like it happens in the PDP. This is a party that wants to bring about change, and that really wants to allow people to make choices based on their own convictions.
“So I have seen in a few states where we have governors, where I was very well received, and I had access to all the delegates, to talk to them, interact with them, and also to listen to all their own problems,” he said.
He dismissed suggestions that he could be asked to step down for Buhari so as to avoid a rancorous primary election that could divide the party ahead of the general election.
“The issue of withdrawal at this moment is not on the table. As candidates we have not met. Before you talk of withdrawal, before you talk of consensus, the candidates must meet as a group. And when they meet as a group, all of them must submit to a consensus process.
“They must also agree what is going to be the mode of the consensus process. How are we going to get a candidate to emerge? So there has to be process, there has to be willingness of all the parties. At the moment, none. We have not even met, not to talk of agreeing to a consensus option.
“I would like to say, perhaps, we have passed the consensus option, because this is an option that did not go through the national working committee, did not go through the NEC.
“So, I think if it did go through all these statutory structures then there is as very slim chance, unless out of the willingness of the five us we decide to sit down and produce a process that will throw up a consensus candidate,” he said.
The full text of the interview will be published on Wednesday.
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