I Won’t Reply Obasanjo, Says Atiku

• Dankwambo tasks PDP on credible candidate

Kayode Fasua

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has stated that he will not respond to the disapproving comments credited to his former boss, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

This is coming as Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, has urged the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be guided by Obasanjo’s comments on Atiku and look for a credible candidate that will be acceptable to Nigerians.

Atiku’s position was made known thursday by his spokesman, Mr. Paul Ibe.
Ibe said his principal was not disturbed by Obasanjo’s comments.

“We have taken a decision not to make any reply to what former President Obasanjo was reported to have said. We have decided to move on and that is just it,” Ibe said.

He, however, said it was not impossible for the PDP to come up with a consensus candidate in view of the various coalition talks going on in the circles of the opposition parties.

“I think it is the thinking among the parties to possibly field a consensus candidate, but you know, these are politicians; they know how to go about it,” he added.

Ibe said Atiku was focused on his presidential aspiration and had not been distracted in any way, stressing that his propelling force was to take the masses out of “the present grinding poverty.”

Reacting to the ex-president’s disparaging comment on Atiku, the Senior Special Assistant on Press Affairs to Governor Dankwambo, Mr. Junaid Usman Abubakar, said, “What Obasanjo said is only a pointer to the PDP, to look for a credible candidate that will be acceptable to Nigerians.

“The issue is not about the name of a candidate but what he has done; and if PDP is very serious, this (Obasanjo’s comment on Atiku) is the only chance it has to prove to the people that it is out to give them the best.”

Abubakar stated that his principal, Dankwambo, is the best candidate so far, as he parades an unblemished track record right from his days in the civil service where he rose to become the Accountant-General of the Federation, and now the governor of Gombe State.

“As accountant-general, Dankwambo built an imposing treasury house in Abuja, introduced e-payment , and even enhanced human development by being instrumental to the elevation of nine directors to the level of permanent secretary,” he added.