Posted by By Jacob Edi, Abuja on
Vice President Atiku Abubakar says in spite of the collapse of the third term plot, the war against anti-democratic elements is far from being over.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar says in spite of the collapse of the third term plot, the war against anti-democratic elements is far from being over.
Speaking, while commissioning a media centre for his presidential campaign in Abuja Wednesday, Atiku said: 'There are anti-democratic forces in the democratic camp. We must work hard to eliminate them. We must weed them out to establish an enduring democracy.
We have to protect our democratic institutions so that they can stand the test of time."
While rejecting the proposal for the use of electronic voting in next year's election, the vice president said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as is presently constituted, cannot be trusted to conduct a free and fair election. He, however, added that it would only take a constitution amendment to put it right.
Atiku said that the fact that only government appointees are members of INEC gives room for external influence. He suggested that appointments into INEC be broadened to include NGOs and other interest groups.
On the on-going reconciliation within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the vice president disclosed that as much as he likes it, the party leadership was yet to contact him.
'I don't feel I am a member of the PDP," Atiku said, adding that he hopes to pursue his presidential ambition within the party structure even as he noted that 'I cannot forget the ACD."
He, however, said that he was not afraid of failure, adding: 'I don't feel threatened. I only feel challenged. As an incumbent, I am not afraid of losing. I will accept anything in good faith. After all, even here in Africa there are incumbent presidents who lost elections. We have an incumbent president and he lost a third term bid."
He added also that 'if he (referring to President Olusegun Obasanjo) doesn't want to move ahead, we are ready to move on. The problem between us is not personal. It is all politics."