2023 Presidency: Atiku Reacts To CAN Demands

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has reacted to key demands presented by the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Naija News reported that the former Vice President met with the CAN leaders led by its President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, at the Christian Ecumenical Centre in Abuja on Tuesday.

Speaking on the demands presented to him at the meeting, the PDP flagbearer said the proposal by the CAN leadership presented is what he believes in and stood by.

Atiku stated that he supported the Christian body when his former principal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and his constituency in Adamawa disagreed with him.

He said he wrote a book on his thoughts which conforms with the CAN’s proposal, insisting that he stands by the objectives mentioned in the book.

Atiku said: “I stand before you here not to campaign but to tell you the honest truth, what you have presented to us is what I have always believed in, and if I have the opportunity, I swear to God, I will do it.

“The fundamental front lines that we have seen in the last seven to eight years only occurred because you wanted to change in 2015, and you elected the change you are seeing and experiencing now.

“The CAN document is totally in conformity with thoughts in a book which I published even when I was a vice-president and I had a fundamental disagreement with my President on that book and the policies it advocates in that book.

“Not only did my President and I had problems, but I also had problems with my own constituency where I come from, but because it is something that I believed in; I still stand by those objectives in that book.’’

To tackle insecurity, the PD presidential candidate also pledged to increase the size of the police force, train and equip them and other security agencies.

Atiku, however, said that all this could not be achieved without a constitutional amendment, which he would work towards achieving.

He said: “We cannot have state police without having a constitutional amendment, so we will go into constitution amendment where we will have different levels of police. These are our plans to tackle the security challenges facing the country.

“For sure we need a judicial amendment. First of all, there are poor wages for judges and very poor working conditions. Again, the judiciary has levels, the federal judiciary, and state, but we will attempt as much as possible to have a judicial reform where we will improve the dispensation of justice and also the welfare of Judges.

“I am a supporter of the removal of the clause of the definition of indigeneship in our constitution; once you reside in any part of the country, and you pay your taxes, you should be entitled to indigeneship.”