Aniagwu: Atiku Already Working on Anti-corruption Bill
•Says Obasanjo not opposed to his presidential bid
•Wike remains eminent PDP chieftain
Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
One of the spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Charles Aniagwu, yesterday, at his maiden press conference, in Asaba, disclosed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has already begun to work on an anti-corruption bill, in anticipation of his victory.
Aniagwu, who said the bill was one of the strategic executive bills being prepared by Atiku ahead of 2023, added that such a move was sufficient proof that the PDP candidate planned to hit the ground running on May 29, 2023.
He said Atiku would not be a reluctant leader if he won the 2023 election as he was prepared to hit the ground running in rescuing Nigeria from mismanagement and to restore hope for the citizens through a comprehensive blueprint to address the critical issues in the country, including corruption.
Moreover, the list of ministerial nominees would be in the public domain even before he is sworn in as the president to enable Nigerian subject the nominees to proper scrutiny, and before they could appear for the statutory scrutiny and clearance at the National Assembly.
Rather than dissipate energy on talking about the numerous problems confronting the nation, he said the PDP standard-bearer has decided that the Atiku-Okowa ticket must be issue-based and solution driven all through, pointing out that presidential hopeful rather “wants to walk the talk.”
His words: “As I speak to you, I can challenge every other candidate, none has anything codified as a book. Atiku already has what he called ‘My Covenant with Nigeria’.
“I challenge any other candidate running in this election to tell you what they want to do, in a much more assembled form; not only to identify the problems but also how to solve the problems.
“The best thing we can do to this country is to I proffer solutions and to proceed, after winning the election by God’s grace, to ensure that those solutions are tailor-made to tackle those challenges that confront us today as a country.”
On the perceived no-love-lost situation between the PDP candidate and former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Aniagwu said Obasanjo was definitely not opposed to his former presidential deputy of eight years, saying he was confident that elder statesman would eventually throw his weight behind the Atiku-Okowa 2023 ticket in line with his famous patriotic disposition.
He noted that despite their perceived differences in the past, Atiku could be said to be Obasanjo’s candidate in 2019, because he did not hide his preference for his former deputy, who was then PDP candidate.
According to Aniagwu, who is also Delta State Commissioner for Information, being a detribalised Nigerian was one of the features that advised Obasanjo’s choice of Atiku in 1999, at a time the latter was set to be governor.
He said Atiku did not disappoint Obasanjo as the vice-president, using his local business and international influence to work with his principal to attract prominent technocrats, men and women, who were not politicians, into the administration, including Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr Olusegun Aganga and Prof Charles Soludo.
He used the opportunity to debunk claims in some quarters that the former vice-president planned to hands off the operation of all federal government owned universities if he won the presidency next year, saying he was misunderstood as his proposed policies towards quality education in the country were clearly spelt out in his pre-2023 election agenda
He allayed fears that the lingering feud with the Governor of Rivers State, Nwesom Wike, could negatively affect the electoral fortunes of the party in 2023, stressing that Wike remained a formidable force in the party, who was poised to swing victory for PDP in that state next year.
