Atiku makes first appearance at Buhari rally

For the first time since the All Progressives Congress (APC) began its presidential campaign rallies, Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president and ex-presidential aspirant of the party, is present to lend support to Muhammadu Buhari, the man who won the presidential ticket he coveted.

Atiku, who recently traced his absence at campaign rallies to a lengthy foreign trip, is currently in Jalingo, capital of Taraba state, where Buhari and APC are currently campaigning.

The APC presidential primary was still ongoing on December 11, 2014 when Atiku, seeing that Buhari’s vote count had overtaken his, issued a statement to congratulate the retired military general, pledging commitment to the party and promising to “campaign vigorously” for Buhari and all APC candidates to ensure victory in the 2015 elections.

Although he was on January 6 named a vice-chairman (north) of the APC presidential campaign council, he travelled out of the country shorty afterwards, leading to claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that Buhari had been abandoned to campaign all by himself.

On his return last week, he released a statement to say it was “morally dubious” for the Nigerian government to consider postponing the 2015 elections.

He was reacting to a statement credited to Sambo Dasuki, national security adviser, that the elections should be postponed to allow permanent voter cards (PVCs) get to all eligible and registered voters.

He also promised to join the APC campaign team, saying: “The duty of participating in the process of change, which our great party, the APC is committed to, supersedes every other consideration.

“For me, participating in this campaign is a call to national duty. It is a duty which we cannot afford to compromise upon and we must press into the consciousness of those at the helms of affairs that it is morally dubious and socially unacceptable to extend the dates of the elections by a single day from the scheduled timelines.”