Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar

FORMER Vice President Atiku Abubakar Monday picked the expression of interest and nomination forms worth N27.5million to vie for the presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC). 

In a  related development, the presidential bid of the APC chieftain, Maj.-Gen. Mahammadu Buhari gathered momentum in Lagos  on Sunday as he paid a visit to the Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN,) to deliver a special invitation for his formal declaration n to contest the  2015 Presidential polls .

Atiku who was accompanied by a horde of supporters to the APC secretariat in Abuja,  

reiterated his call on the party leaders to ensure a level play ground for all the presidential aspirants before and during the primary elections.

 Atiku also unveiled his economic agenda to retool the Nigerian economy by ensuring that the private sector in effect becomes the engine of growth.

The action , he explained, would be aimed at reduction of waste and ensure that the nation’s wealth trickles to every Nigerian.

   He promised this amid allegation that there exist a high network mafia in the energy sector of Nigeria and attributed the woes of citizens to the menace and has promised to smash the syndicate if given the opportunity to lead Nigeria as President so as to free Nigerians from the harrowing experience caused by the mafia.

Specifically, he alleged that Nigerians have continued to witnessed pains in power and petroleum products supply because of the mafia in the Power Holding Company of Nigeria ( PHCN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC) .

Atiku stated this in Abuja  at a press conference to unveil his economic blueprint ahead of the 2015  polls where he is seeking to fly the flag of the APC as its flag bearer.

   He explained that the economic blueprint  by anyone aspiring to lead a country like Nigeria had become imperative to provide opportunity for the electorate to make informed choices of who govern them as it has appeared that some people in Nigeria are not prepared for the enormous task and demand of the Office of President, but would just stumble into office and begin to learn on the job.

    Again, Atiku  insisted that in contemporary and global worldview, governance has become pure  business hence those without sound and successful business acumen in governance today would become disasters to the people they lead because they would be unable to perform.

“ We have recorded impressive growth right from our own Administration. But unfortunately this impressive growth has not trickle down to the ordinary people because the way government is so structured is such that the wealth has continued to remain in the hands of very few people , top echelon of the population. In other words, our job creation records has been very poor. It’s only when the job creation effort is good that that growth in GDP can be translated because we have at the moment the highest rate of unemployment which is not good.”, he added.

   Lofty as the plan is, the former Vice President announced that the Economic blueprint is to be reviewed on October 27 at the President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

On if the choice of the venue was an attempt to seek for his former boss’ endorsement, he denied and said it was purely based on logistical convenience as considered by his Director of Campaign, Prof Babalola Borishade who was also with him at the briefing .

  Again he said : “  The purpose of this press conference is to announce that we will be hosting a policy review summit on October 27, 2014 at the Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta. The Summit will host a panellist of experts who will fine-tune the elemental details of the Atiku 2015 policy document. The Draft Policy to be reviewed was drawn up within the context of the Manifesto of our Party, the APC.

This document provides an overview of our Policy Position.

The main thrust is the explicit bid to modify the way the machinery of FederalGovernment works by:

•Clarifying and streamlining MDAs remits and responsibilities, removing overlaps and operational redundancies

•Systematically devolving and delegating operational responsibilities to states and local governments, and  private sector organisations (commercial and charitable)

•Addressing habits and practices that currently compromise policy implementation

•Enshrining good governance as the hallmark of his administration and

•Eventually ensuring that solutions can be implemented, monitored and evaluated.

Buhari, who arrived the Lagos House, Marina, in company with members of his team, said he decided to convey the invitation personally because Lagos was  the biggest and most viable constituency of the APC adding that he would also do same to all the other governors in the Southwest.

According to the APC chieftain, who was national leader and Presidential Candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, he would also visit Oyo  and Kwara States and go round to the other States by tomorrow, which according to him, was  the D-Day