News: Atiku talks private life, politics & business in new interview

Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar does not agree with those who have reservations about his recent decision to dump the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) for the All Progressives Congress(APC). According to him, PDP has lost direction and therefore has little to offer members. He also spoke on a number of other touchy issues in this interview. Excerpts:

What have you been doing with your private life since you left government?
I think maybe that has been the best part of my life because I have  been able to get enough time to devote to my family, my friends and social activities. Sometimes, it is good to be out of public office really because when you are in public office, you don’t seem to have time for your family,  friends and  social activities. But once you are out of it, I think that is a more relaxing atmosphere.

You hardly ate when you were in the office. Could you let us into the kind of food  you like now?
Yes, but now I take all my three meals.  I take my breakfast, I take my lunch, I take by dinner . Mostly, the diet is either fish and vegetable, or chicken and vegetable. That is all  I take.

No pounded yam?
No, no, no. No pounded yam, no rice.

You appear to be growing  younger, what’s the secret?
It is because of the way I live. I mean, honestly, I am enjoying my life out of office. I have more time for my family, my kids and my businesses  Of course, I don’t run my businesses. They are all being run by associates or family members. So, I am relaxing.

How else do you live?
I sleep when I like, I wake up when I like. It’s not like when I was  in public office, whether I liked it or not, I had to get up as early as 6:00am.
Sometimes, when I was  vice president, after my early morning prayers, I didn’t go back to sleep until I attended to all my memos and my files because I am one kind of person who didn’t leave any one file or memo unattended to for more than a day. It was not easy but  I ensured I did that . Nothing disturbs me now.

Even as you relax, there is something that I know is disturbing you.  It’s the situation in Nigeria, right?
You are quite right.

What’s it about Nigeria?
I have never been so disturbed in all my life in Nigeria than now.

Why ?
Nothing seems to be going right for us. Nothing! Absolutely nothing! So, whether it is politics, whether it is governance, whether it is business,  whatever you may say. Forget about all these growth numbers they give. We are growing by 7.6%, 7.5%  , this and that. Where is the growth ?As far as the ordinary man is concerned, there is no growth.
Once the ordinary man’s life is not better, then where is the growth? It means the growth is just concentrated in a few hands.

Since 1993 when you showed up, you have been around  in the Nigerian political terrain. What makes you tick?
I have been a factor in Nigeria’s politics because  I stick to what I believe in. Whether it suits my personal ambition or not, I stick to what I believe in. For instance, I cannot compromise on democracy, I cannot compromise on rule of law, I cannot compromise on the unity of this country and at the same time, I also cannot compromise on the fact that this country is composed of diverse nationalities. And we should each  be  allowed to grow at our own pace. There is too much power at the center. Too much! Too much!

Contrary to the reason you adduced, some are of the opinion that you have remained a factor in the nation’s politics because of your stupendous wealth. Are they correct ?
I don’t consider myself as somebody who is fabulously rich. I am just comfortable. And that is all what I believe every Nigerian wants to be, to be comfortable, to be able to afford what you can eat. You can buy akpu, you can buy tuwo and you can buy eba. That is it.

You were forced again within this  this dispensation  to leave the party you  founded. How do you feel?
A party is not a religion. Even in religion, people change. I mean, you see some people changing from being Muslims to Christians and verse versa. That is religion. I mean, worshipping God, not to talk of party. By the way, how many of we founding fathers are today left in the PDP? Tell me how many.? Almost all of them are gone. Those who cannot afford to remain in politics have retired simply, because the party has been taken over by people who should not in the first place be there.

When you were in the PDP, there was the fear of Atiku in some quarters, and when you crossed over to the APC, we hear that there is the fear of Atiku. How do you feel about this phobia about Atiku among some politicians?
May be they are people who don’t want to conform, people who want to have their way by any means and as far as I am concerned, I won’t take it. I must insist on what I believe in- democracy, good governance, rule of law and so on and so forth.

When you went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we learnt some students  pleaded with  you that they were hungry.  How did you feel seeing students shouting about hunger ?
What I have observed in our universities is that they are overcrowded. In other words, we built each  university for a population of  10,000 students, but  now  they have about 30,000 there. Obviously the capacity of the  university has been  exceeded  and I think it is wrong. Instead of exceeding your capacity, you could also build more universities that can provide the necessary capacity to educate and train these kids.
I have been in education for almost 20 years  now, and I started from kindergarten. From the day I started that kindergarten, I said there is no way you can have more than 25 kids in a class. And it is so till today, up to  secondary school. When I started a university, I said there is no way you can have more than 17 students per  lecturer. And it is so. So, if they try to admit more than that, I say no. I cannot compromise on  quality. But I went to the University of Lagos  when  I was  vice president and I was scared because the students’ hostels  were like jail houses. They were sleeping on top of each other and the place was so dirty. No maintenance, windows are broken; it is incredible! You can’t believe that these are children of human beings staying there. I went to the University of Ibadan, the same thing. And last week, I was at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, the same thing. These are first generation universities. There is something fundamentally wrong  in governance in this country.

Back to politics. Your political associates in the PDM are not happy that you defected from  PDP  to APC instead of PDM  whose registration is linked to you. How do you feel about this ?
I don’t know how the PDM was registered. I don’t know. But I agree that I have many political associates in PDM and there are some who are not.  PDM has people who were not in politics before and they felt that PDM is the right place for them.

How do you react to this feeling that PDM is a platform you have kept in waiting?
No. Certainly not. I have political associates in PDP, PDM, in APC and even in APGA and other political parties.

Some people think you’re like  late  MKO Abiola who had  friends across the nation . How were you able to achieve this ?
The reason is that in my public service days, I  worked in all parts of the country. I  worked in the West, in the East, and in the North and I cultivated a lot of bridges and friendships amongst the people and I continue to do that. Basically, there is no part of this country where I consider myself a stranger. Absolutely none.

If OBJ’s third term bid  had survived, would you have been happy?
It could never have survived.

What if it had survived?
It could never have survived (general laughter). We worked together. You and I worked together to abort it and we worked together, not only you and I, but all parts of this country. So, how could it have survived?

Is your relationship with your former boss, Obasanjo cordial especially as he is believed to be romancing with your party, APC?
We have maintained a cordial relationship.

Many believe that  you are relating warmly with the ex president so as to get his endorsement for the ticket of APC?
I don’t know about that. I have not even yet declared whether I am running or not running. Not until that is done, I cannot say anything on that.

But the impression is that you moved to APC because of your presidential ambition. Correct?
No. That is not the reason. I moved to APC because I was not relevant in PDP. I said it.  I am a politician, I desire to make an input to the growth of the country. I still want to leave a better country for my children. For me, I would have said to hell, but I have children,  I have young people, I want to bequeath a better country to them.

In almost 16 years of governance, do you think your former party, the PDP, has faired well  in the process of internal democracy? Did it do very well in 2011 and subsequently? Was that what you expected when the party was founded?
I think PDP lost focus and track from 2003. It lost focus and track,  It deviated from the basic principles on which it was founded.  It’s no longer what it was at inception.

Can you sincerely absolve yourself from blame over PDP problems given the fact that you just said they  started in 2003 when you were still a factor?
I can absolve  myself because from 2003 when the president and myself took different positions, there was no more governance. In his second term, we were still busy fighting. So, the entire focus of governance that we set up during our first tenure; the economic reforms, this and that, everything was abandoned and we continued fighting till the end.

How were you able to survive that fight?
Because I was right.

Even your boys, Ribadu and el-Rufai, abandoned you. How did you feel at that time?
When I spoke to one of them, he said it was a power game and that they wanted power too.

At the moment, when you sit at the table of the APC, el-Rufai will be there, Ribadu will be there, Buhari will be there. How do  you feel?
As a politician and as a democrat, if you cannot manage differences, then you should not be there. You shouldn’t be there. I think it is part of leadership. You should be able to manage others.

There was a report that the presidency has been shut against Atiku in the APC…
The presidency has been shut against me?

Yes. That the door has been shut against Atiku…
No. APC has not shut their door against anyone. Not with the kind of caliber of people that are in APC now. I mean, if you look at the APC now, it is not a place where you can go and joke.

Is your desire to rule Nigeria out of your wish to serve or it’s just anego trip?
The question of ego is not there because I am not egotistic. Maybe you need to rephrase your question. As long as I am alive and strong, I would want to contribute. I told you I have children. I want to leave a better country for them and so, it is a desire to serve in whatever capacity. I don’t need to be  president.

What do  you expect from the confab?
I have already made a statement about the confab. I said it’s an afterthought. I do not see anything  coming out of it. It’s an afterthought. It is not in the programme of this president, so it is an afterthought.

Is APC’s decision to participate in the conference also an afterthought?
No. It is not an afterthought. How is it an afterthought?

Initially, they said they were not going to be part of it. Didn’t they?
I am not even aware that they are now part of it.

You’ve expressed concerns about insecurity in this country and the situation is not getting better. Do you have a strategy they can use to solve this problem?
I am not a security expert, but I tend to agree with the Governor of Borno State who said “our security services are badly motivated,  badly equipped and not enough of intelligence is being used and the support of the local people and inhabitants is also absent”.
If you reflect over  what happened  lately  in Maiduguri, but for the support of the local people, it could have been almost impossible for the military to subdue those boys. So, I will agree with the Governor of Borno State.
CulledFrom: TheSunNewspaper