Former Vice President who is also a Chieftain of the African Democratic Party, (ADC) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Governor of Oyo state and Peoples Democratic Party, Engineer Sheyi Makinde, both had private but separate meetings with former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in hill top mansion, Minna, Niger state on Tuesday. Vanguard reports.
Answering questions from Journalists immediately after the meeting, Alhaji Atiku picked holes in the amended Electoral Bill passed by the Senate on Tuesday and called on all opposing parties and Nigerians to challenge the amended Electoral Bill as it will not add value but bring confusion to the electoral system.
He called on all the opposition political parties in the country to come together and oppose the amended Electoral Bill passed by the Senate of the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Atiku said,”The decision of the Senate will create more problems for the country during elections.
“It is actually below the expectations of Nigerians. Nigerians were expecting real-time electronic transfer of election results but what we got is a mixture of electronic and manual transmission, which is going to cause more confusion and chaos than if we had a single tier of election transmission system.
“I think there is a need for all opposition political parties to come together, rise against the amendment as the Senate want it to remain as passed, but we should not allow it to rest on our own part,” he declared.
The former Vice President also condemned and described the Tax Bills as controversial and described the All Progressives Congress (APC) as “a party of forgers”.
“They forged everything, they forged age limit, they forged tax laws, and that is the Hallmark of APC, ” he remarked.
On the zoning of the President in the party, Alhaji Atiku said the party has not taken any step on it
According to him, “the African Democratic Congress,+ADC) has not zoned the presidency to any part of the country.
“We have no zoning in ADC constitution. The only party that has zoning in its constitution is Peoples Democratic Party,(PDP) and this is not applicable to our Party,(ADC.)
“What ADC is presently doing is mobilising new members with like minds and also registering them at the same time,” he explained.
The former Vice President arrived Minna in a private jet with registration number 5NKAS which landed around 2 pm at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Airport and was accompanied by Mr Ben Obi, and the Assistant National Youth Leader of the ADC Hajia Hassana Shuaibu Dada and drove straight to meet General Babangida privately.
Similarly, Oyo state Governor, Engineer Sheyi Makinde, also had an audience with the former Military but refused to speak with the eager Journalists that besieged him for questioning.
It would be recalled that the Senate passed the amended Electoral Bill at an emergency meeting yesterday, making provisions for both electronic and manual transfer of results from the polling stations.
