By Lucky Isibor
Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday said he is not desperate to be the nation’s president.
He made the assertion while feeding questions from newsmen shortly after his meeting with the Oba of Benin in his palace in Benin City.
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was at his palace to seek royal blessing on his political aspiration.
Atiku said if he were desperate to be the nation’s president, he would have long achieved it and would have not step down for Abiola in the run up to the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
According to him” what do you expect my critics to say. And there is nothing wrong in entering the race. I can run as many times as possible. I am fit, qualified. I still have ideas that I believe that are going to put this country at the right part.
“So, what is wrong in running? I am not desperate and if I were desperate, I would have taken the presidency in 2003. If I were desperate, i would not have stepped down for Abiola. I am not desperate”,
The former VP said his decision for contesting for the position of the presidency was borne out of his dire desire to improving the losts of Nigerians.
He added that he would remain in the Peoples Democratic Party if he were not given the ticket to run as the nation’s president in 2019.
Earlier, the Benin Monarch, Oba Ewuare II, tasked all political office seekers to make the security of lives and properties of Nigerians their priorities, noting that without security, nothing much can be achieved in the country.
He expressed worry over the state of insecurity in the country, saying that something must be done to arrest what he called unprecedented state of insecurity.
“If there is no peace and security, there is nothing anyone can do. The high level of unprecedented insecurity is something to worry about.
“We don’t have to fragment the country. We must do our best to keep the country as one. We have all it takes to make Nigeria the best country,” the Monarch said.
Oba Ewuare II also expressed worries over the development in the National Assembly.
“We are not too happy to see what is happening in the Senate, the house of rep and state houses of assembly.
“Those in leadership must find a way to ensure that those who elected them there are taken care of.
