TheCable

A group named All Atiku Support Group (AASG) has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of implementing some policies which Atiku Abubakar proposed while contesting for president in 2019.

The group said the policies in question were contained in the campaign document of Abubakar, who challenged Buhari in the election under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Oladimeji Fabiyi, AASG chairman, added via a statement on Thursday that while some of the plans have been adopted, the government has indicated interest to implement others.

Fabiyi said examples of such is the government’s decision to devalue the Naira and “privatise” the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

“It will be recalled that during the 2019 presidential campaign, one of the prime policy proposals by Atiku Abubakar was to reset the Naira in order to market the national currency to be more competitive and to create more traffic for direct foreign investments in Nigeria,” he said.

“The APC and supporters of President Buhari called Atiku all manner of names at that time. But today, they have stealthily embraced that same policy, although giving it a different nomenclature.”

The group further said Abubakar, a former vice-president, had also proposed to privatise the NNPC and use the revenue generated from its sale to provide key infrastructure in the country.

“When Atiku suggested that the federal government had no need to keep on holding exclusive equity stakes in the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC), he was derided for it,” it added.

“They did not bother to take time to ponder over the logic of that suggestion. They instantly threw away the baby with the bath water.”

“Today, after running the economy aground in five years, the harsh reality has dawned on them to uphold the truth they once made a mockery of.”

It listed other measures proposed by Abubakar to include closure of Nigeria’s borders, provision of palliative to the poor and vulnerable, and reduction of the national budget.

“We wish to appeal to the APC and the Buhari administration to take full advantage of the suggestions in the Atiku policy document which was not made public but submitted to the administration,” it added.