what really baffles me is what is the beef these two have ? Obj chose hm as VP ! Or is it woman matter ?
From Chuks Okocha in Abuja and Idowu Sowunmi in Lagos, 11.26.2010
Former vice president and the northern consensus presidential aspirant, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar yesterday lashed out at the seemingly irreverent response given by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday when asked to comment on the choice of his former vice president as the consensus candidate...
The Atiku Campaign Organisation also condemned the economic policies of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, stating that the federal government was taking deliberate attempt to distort facts and confuse Nigerians on the economic performance of the administration.
Obasanjo had on Thursday retorted, "I dey Laugh" when asked to comment on the choice of Atiku as the consensus presidential aspirant of a northern political group led by Adamu Ciroma.
But the deputy director general of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Ibrahim Bashir revealed that when the former vice president was informed that Obasanjo laughed when asked to comment on Atiku’s selection, Atiku responded: "Why won’t he laugh; he would have rot in the Yola Prison if not for (General Ibrahim) Babangida and General Abdullsami Abubakar."
Still referring to Obasanjo’s comical stance on Atiku selection, Bashir said, "It was after all Obasanjo that first chose Atiku as vice president, when he had won his election as the governor of Adamawa State."
The Atiku Organisation also condemned the economic policies of the Jonathan administration, explaining that the federal government was deliberately distorting the facts and confusing Nigerians on the economic performance of the administration particularly in the implementation of the capital components of the 2010 Appropriation Act as amended and supplemented.
Said the organisation: "The Jonathan administration according to the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2011-2013 has led Nigeria into a budget deficit of 6.06 per cent of GDP and plans a deficit of 5.75 per cent of the GDP in 2011 contrary to the provisions of Section 12 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act on aggregate expenditure ceiling.
"The three per cent rule can only be exceeded if in the opinion of the president, there is a clear and present threat to national security or sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or it may be exceeded if the National Assembly determines any other percentage as sustainable.
"Empirical evidence sho-ws that the administration had last year presented a budget containing deficits far in excess of the three per cent rule."
The Atiku Organisation held that "to state that the economy should not be the subject of political discourse is a display of ignorance," noting that the undulating fortunes of the Republican and Democratic parties in America have been based on the performance of the American economy.
"President Obama was elected on his superior economic reform agenda whilst the loss of a large number of congressional seats in the mid-term elections was premised on the slow rate of economic recovery particularly in creating new jobs and cutting down the deficit."
The organisation said the 2010 Amended and Supplementary Budgets provides N2,669.01 billion for recurrent non-debt expenditure, N1,764.69 billion for capital expenditure, N542.38 billion for debt service and N183.58 billion for statutory transfers.
"These figures as a percentage of the overall budget represent 52 per cent for recurrent non-debt expenditure, 34 per cent for capital expenditure, 10 per cent for debt service and four per cent for statutory transfers respectively," the statement explained.
The Federal Executive Council through the Minister of Finance, Dr. Olusegun Aganga had warned Atiku not to play politics with the economy, while the Jonathan/Sambo Presidential Campaign Organisation also took a swipe at the former vice president over his criticism that President Jonathan was mismanaging the nation's economy.
Atiku, had in a press conference on Tuesday asked some pertinent questions on the economy. "Why are our budgets not being implemented? Why has the money in our Excess Crude Account disappeared at a time when oil prices have been way above the benchmark used for our budget estimates? Why are our foreign reserves being depleted to dangerous levels leading to rating agencies downgrading our status?” queried Atiku.
But the Director Research and Strategy of Jonathan/Sambo Campaign, Mike Omeri, noted with dismay that Atiku displayed stark ignorance on the performance of the economy, explaining that even the International Monetary Fund acknowledged the upward movement of our economy and has rated the nation's economy as buoyant.
However, the Atiku Campaign Organisation yesterday disagreed and described the federal government’s claims on budget implementation as a fraud.
"Dr. Aganga had informed the House of Representatives in plenary in the first week of November 2010 that of the entire capital budget, only the sum of N749 billion had been released, cash-backed and was available for ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs) to draw from."
"This is however N1 billion less that the N750 billion he claimed to have released and cash-backed," the statement said.
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