“I have not been convicted of any corrupt practice,” he stated emphatically.
Atiku, at a media interaction yesterday in Lagos, stressed, “I am not corrupt,” in response to newsmen, who asked him: “Are you corrupt?”
The former vice president added that though “I am the most investigated Nigerian,” nothing incriminating had been established against him after all the probes and investigations.
He, however, said with his political experience, exposure, electoral value and economic acumen, he was the most qualified politician in the country today to serve as president.
He insisted that “our administration established various agencies to deal with the issue of corruption, we charged people for corruption more than other administrations in this country.”
According to him, the administration he served “wanted a more effective Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) than the one approved by the National Assembly,” asserting that “no administration has done more than what we did.”
Atiku, who will officially declare his ambition to serve the country as president on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) tomorrow, told journalists that he would run a corruption-free economy, pledging that the issue of corruption would be dealt with decisively the way it had not been done before. The welfare of the citizenry, he added, would be guaranteed during his administration. He said if he could run his business successfully all these years, to replicate that at the national level as president would be an easy task. If voted as president, he promised, his government would focus on mass employment that would banish poverty, suffering and hardship in the land.
“This is a new Atiku with new direction that will lead the country to a better tomorrow, create an environment to create jobs,” he promised, pointing out that a “good government should be able to come up with policies to create jobs through the private sector.”
On how he would contend with the issue of power of incumbency, the APC presidential aspirant boasted: “If we could fight the military with the media partnership to a standstill to enthrone democracy, we are capable to defeat the incumbent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” adding: “We do not need to give up because somebody is there.” Insisting that the task of effecting the needed change in the country must be accomplished, Atiku stated that change was required to formulate new policies and bring about a restructuring that would deepen democracy. He said there was need for change in the police structure to accommodate state police, and reform in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), among other agencies for effective governance.
When newsmen suggested that Adamawa governorship by-election would be a litmus test for his presidential ambition, Atiku asked rhetorically, “Did former President Olusegun Obasanjo win his state before winning a presidential election?” Going down memory lane, the former vice president noted that General Muhammadu Buhari had never delivered his Katsina State, just as he reminded newsmen that several presidents of the United States of America (USA) did not win their states before becoming the number one citizen of their country.
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