2015: I’ll contest - Atiku •Rules out alliance with Tinubu •It’s his constitutional right to run - Presidency

Atiku Abubakar

FORMER vice-president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has confirmed that he will present himself in the next presidential election, saying his rumoured interest in the race should not be a surprise to Nigerians.

The presidency, nonetheless, wishes him well, saying anybody’s right, including Abubakar’s, to contest the 2015 election is guaranteed by the constitution.

Abubakar said his ambition to rule Nigeria will depend on a number of factors which he was yet to disclose, just as he dismissed any alliance talks with the Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Abubakar told the Nigerian Tribune in a brief electronic interview that any alliance aimed at achieving the ambition would be within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The disclosure is coming amidst reports that his loyalists across the country were already making efforts to make an in road to the South-West, even as they were striving for a cordial relationship between their principal and his former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, with strong indications that they are awaiting the outcome of the Ondo State governorship election in October 20.

Meanwhile, the Political Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr Ahmed Gulak, has said the former vice-president had the right to run in 2015.

“Atiku is private individual; the directive by the president that people should engage less in 2015 bickering because of the attendant distractions concerns only those in government, as well people of good conscience who share the same spirit with the president.

“As an individual, if Abubakar says he has decided to polish his sandals and run, we can only wish him well because it is the inalienable right of every Nigerian, including Atiku, to run for the highest office in any place they find themselves,” he said.

In another development, ahead of the 2015 presidential election, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) might have commenced the search for a suitable replacement for Major-General Muham-madu Buhari, who might not contest the election due to old age.

Already, the former head of state had commenced talks with former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, who was seen as a staunch member and who would not betray the party, compared to another possible replacement, Mallam Nasir el-Rufa’i.

Although Buhari declined to talk to newsmen in Kaduna after the secret meeting with Bafarawa at the weekend, a source close to the politicians confided in newsmen that the talks were all about 2015.

“We are not going to rest on our oars, we are not very comfortable with el-Rufa’i because experienced had shown that runaway PDP member should not be trusted as was exemplified in ACN and other parties.

However, Bafarawa, who spoke to newsmen after the Kaduna meeting with Buhari, declined to disclose what actually transpired.

“I came to him to discuss, in order to chart the way forward on how we can unite ourselves in the North, because the North is in disarray, therefore, we need to unite since we are masters of all trade when you talk of political activities in the North. All the political parties in the country can be found in the North, therefore, we have to concentrate and put our house in order,” he had told newsmen.