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A peace meeting between representatives of President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar has collapsed following the inability of the two parties to reach a compromise.
A peace meeting between representatives of President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar has collapsed following the inability of the two parties to reach a compromise.
According to the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organization, President Obasanjo asked Atiku, through his representatives at the meeting, to denounce his 2007 presidential ambition and get an amnesty in return.
He was also said to have allegedly asked the vice president to team up with him to stop the Senate from investigating the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
Reacting to this allegation on Thursday, President Obasanjo's Special Adviser on Political Matters, Mr. Akin Oshuntokun, however, said he was not aware of such reconciliatory meeting.
The Atiku Campaign Organization said that the vice president, in answer to Obasanjo's requests, insisted that Nigerians should be left to decide who becomes president next year.
He was also said to have stated that the Senate probe of the PTDF was the only opportunity he had to clear himself of the grave allegations levelled against him by the reports of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Administrative Panel of Inquiry.
The statement by the Atiku Campaign Organization reads: "On the peace talks, the truth is that four men, who are colleagues and friends but who find themselves in opposite camps in the presidential cleavage had been deliberating on how to restore normalcy to a situation that they felt portends grave dangers for Nigeria's democracy.
"The men are Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Minister for the Federal Capital Territory; Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu; Hon. Usman Bugaje, former political adviser to the vice president and member of the House of Representatives and Mr. Yusuf Bashir, until recently a special assistant to the vice president.
"At the prospect of a breakthrough in the peace talks involving this four, Mr. President strengthened his team by bringing in the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo, Minister for Culture and Tourism, Chief. Femi Fani-Kayode and Minister for Information, Mr. Frank Nweke. It was on the account of this that the vice president introduced Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, Chief Yomi Edu and Mr. Rickey Tarfa to his team.
"The last meeting of the committee was stalemated because of two requests by the President through his team viz: 1) That Vice President Abubakar withdraws from the 2007 presidential race. In return, he offered to gazette an amnesty that will protect him against trial for his purported indictment by the Bayo Ojo panel. According to the president's team, President Obasanjo said his minimum condition for peace is for the vice president to withdraw from the 2007 presidential election. 2) He wants the presidency to work as one to prevent the Senate from investigating the finances of the Petroleum Technology Trust Fund (PTDF), which had, at different times, been supervised by the president and vice president and NNPC, which the president has run alone since 1999.
"The vice president's team rebuffed these requests on the grounds that: 1) The choice of the next president is the responsibility of Nigerians and should not be appropriated by any individual or group. The Vice President's presidential aspiration goes beyond him and it is borne out of the conviction of his supporters that he possesses the qualities, temperament and nationalist vision to provide the leadership that will guarantee Nigeria's development. Besides, he has challenged the indictment in court and he is convinced that the indictment cannot stand. 2) The Senate probe of the PTDF is the best opportunity the vice president has to clear himself of the false allegations against him on the operation of the PTDF. Besides, he believes that anyone who has nothing to hide should welcome the Senate probe as he has done.
"The Vice President's team made a request: That the president gives an undertaking that there will be free, fair and credible transition in 2007.
"The meeting was adjourned to last night (Wednesday) to allow the two teams to make further consultations with their principals. The meeting, however, could not hold as the president's team reported that the rebuff of the two requests by the vice president's team has frustrated the peace initiative.
"However, it is our suspicion that while the president's team admitted the flaws in the president's position, many of them lack the courage to express such convictions before him. Besides, many of them are apparently hopeful that if Atiku is successfully caged, they stand a chance of being invited to join the presidential race.
"The Atiku Campaign Organization wishes to state that while Vice President Abubakar is characteristically open to peace initiatives, this will not be at the expense of rule of law and promotion of the finest tenets of democracy, like probity, transparency and respect for separation of power between the organs of the state. He will also not trade away the inalienable rights of Nigerians to pick their next president."
On the report that Atiku shunned the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, the Atiku campaign organization said the vice president's absence from the meeting had nothing to do with the breakdown of the peace talk. It said that the vice president could not attend the meeting because he had a bed rest on Wednesday on the advice of his doctor.