FORMER Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has contended that he had the chances of becoming the President of Nigeria but he declined for the unity of the country.
Speaking in a BBC Hausa programme monitored in Kaduna on Tuesday, the former VP recalled that in 1992 he stepped down for MKO Abiola even when it was clear he was the favourite to clinch the Social Democratic Party (SDP) ticket.
According to him, again in 2003, he also declined when the governors unanimously endorsed him for President but he declined and remain faithful to his boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
‘I had the chances but I declined for the unity and progress of the country which has remained my number one priority.
Thus, he quickly added that he was desperate of becoming the President of Nigeria as some of his critics would say, saying, ‘If I was desperate to be president, I couldn’t have stepped down for MKO and Obasanjo.
On why he wanted to contest in 2019, Abubakar affirmed that having been the Vice President of Nigeria for 8 eight years, he had come to understand how government operates at the highest level.
The former number two man took a cursory look at the economy and contended that it was not working in the right direction, saying, it needs total overhauling.
He said at the moment no investor will be willing to come and invest in the country because the Central Bank has three prices for any investor who wants to buy a dollar, contending, this is utterly disgusting for any investor
‘I want to come and correct this and ensure that the price for the dollar is uniform at the apex bank not differently as it is now, he declared.
Atiku also contended that the creation of jobs for the teeming youths would be his main focus if he assumed the office of the President, noting, every body knows me I can do that because they have to see how I set up several companies in the country.