In a statement released the media office of
former Vice President of Nigeria in Abuja, on
Thursday, Atiku Abubakar, accused
members of the party in the Senate of
betrayal following the “shocking and
saddening” decision of the Senate not to
grant devolution of power to the states.
The influential All Progressives Congress
Chieftain, said the decision by the APC-
controlled Senate was “a lost opportunity to
honour one of the party’s election promises
to bring about change by shifting power
closer to the people in the remotest regions
of our country.
“This blockage of the Bill by an APC-led
Senate majority is a betrayal of our Party’s
pre-election promises. It was an important
vote and I’m shocked by some so-called
progressives’ visceral and cynical opposition
to restructuring,” Atiku said.
He decried the reluctance of the lawmakers
to remove “the insidious structural
impediments to development, which
decades of military rule had hoisted upon
our nation.”
According to him, “instead of building the
foundations for a true federation, a small
group of so-called progressive senators
decided to stick with the new party line,
pretending they did not know what
restructuring was all about, and that even if
they knew, it couldn’t be done. I think this is
disingenuous.
“And I think it is a sad day for our Party. But
I’m confident the APC will learn the right
lesson from this self-inflicted defeat, and
remember the mission and mandate given
to us by the people.”
Atiku said he hopes that the lawmakers
would “find the courage to stand by what is
right, and not by what serves their personal
vanities and political interests.
“Let me be clear: Restructuring is no
panacea to all our nation’s problems. But
devolving resources and responsibilities
from an overbearing, unresponsive, and
ineffective federal government to the states
is the first step we must make if we are
serious about putting our nation back on
track, and our people back to work,” he
said.
