The presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, Sunday, reviled the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on his long-standing record on restructuring, insisting that history must not be distorted for political expediency.
Osinbajo had on Saturday accused Atiku Abubakar of being disingenuous with his campaign on restructuring Nigeria, saying he was among the earliest proponents of restructuring even at a time Abubakar was frustrating the cause.
Osinbajo, who spoke at the 9th Public Lecture of Sigma Club at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, said Abubakar was among those who opposed every step which he and other restructuring elements took to give states more control over generated revenues, especially from oil and other natural minerals proceeds.
”Let me explain my position clearly. I am not just an advocate of restructuring, there is no other government in Nigeria that has actively pursued restructuring such as we did when I was Attorney-General in Lagos State
“People talking about restructuring, if you ask them what they meant by restructuring? They won’t even know what it means and that is the problem we have to face.”
“Of course, we were taking the Federal Government to court then. They opposed every step. We started with fiscal restructuring, which is more of resource control. Should states control their own resources? We went to the Supreme Court. They argued that each state should control its own resources.”
“The states that argued in favour of autonomy for states to control their resources were the oil producing states in the country and Lagos State, while some others argued on the other side because they want to share oil money.
“We lost at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said no, that you cannot control your resources. If you are an oil producing state, take 13 per cent extra, which is derivation,” Osinbajo had said while specifically referring to Abubakar.
But Atiku Abubakar in his response Sunday, decried Osinbajo’s allegation against him, saying he had an unblemished track record as a restructuring advocate.
He said: ”The Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, is being economical with the truth in his statement that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was against restructuring while in office between 1999 and 2007.
”Given that restructuring has become the major issue in the 2019 elections and given that Prof Osinbajo and his boss have been speaking discordant tunes on restructuring, we can understand their desperation to revise history, however, it is impossible to revise documented history.
”Professor Osinbajo needs to be reminded that there are well-documented accounts in the Nigerian media chronicling Atiku Abubakar’s support and struggle for restructuring.
”To set the records straight, we recommend to Professor Osinbajo the article ‘Nigeria: 6-1 Onshore-Offshore Jurisdiction Verdict’ written by Jide Ajani, then the Political Editor of Vanguard Newspapers and published on July 13, 2001.
“In that piece, which is still available online, Vanguard newspapers chronicled the successful efforts of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, to restructure the revenue allocation formulae to allow littoral states of the federation benefit from off shore oil proceeds.
”Ironically, it was precisely Mr. Osinbajo’s boss, Muhammadu Buhari, who as military dictator, cheated these states of their just due by military fiat.
”It is also common knowledge that the six geopolitical zones structure which all parts of Nigeria benefit from today is the fruit of the collaborative efforts of His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, the late Alex Ekwueme and other patriots.
Their efforts at restructuring Nigeria are captured in the Hansard of the 1995 Constitutional Conference, which is a public document and is still available at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Professor Osinbajo may want to familiarise himself with that document.
”The question we want to ask Professor Osinbajo is this – why do he and his boss constantly resort to rewriting history? Why can they not campaign on their achievements? Is it that they are forced to campaign on subterfuge because they have no achievements to campaign on?
”President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo promised to make ₦1 equal to $1. They vowed to create three million jobs per annum. They promised to pay the unemployed a “job seekers allowance”. They said subsidy was a scam. They also said that they would defeat Boko Haram.
”Nigerians want to know if these promises have been kept. They are not interested in fairy tales about how Atiku Abubakar did not support restructuring because they know that he is and was and will always be an active promoter of restructuring.
”Everywhere he goes to campaign, Atiku Abubakar has used temperate and respectful language on both President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo. He has campaigned on his record of achievements, which include the 50,000 jobs he has created in his private capacity, and on his policies and plans to get Nigeria working again.
”We recommend this form of decent politicking to Prof. Osinbajo, even as we urge him to remember that as Vice President, his words matter.”
