Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the rift between himself and former President, Olusegun Obasanjo is all over, re-iterating that he harbours “no hatred or enmity” against his former boss.
Atiku spoke on Tuesday in Abuja when he granted audience to the leaders of the Northern Youth Leaders Forum, a group that recently embarked on a mission to heal the rift between the former President and his deputy.
Led by Eliot Afiyo, the group had weeks ago met former President Obasanjo in Ota, at which event he announced that he had forgiven his former vice president.
“I don’t harbor any grudge against my former boss. Yes, we had disagreements in office. These were mere disagreements. I harbor no hatred or enmity against him or anybody. I never had anything against him and I will never have,” Atiku said while responding to the group.
He explained that in politics, he has opponents, but no enemies. “Politics is not war,” he emphasized.
Atiku thanked the group for successfully brokering peace between him and President Obasanjo, adding that this singular effort had marked the leaders of the youth organisation as serious-minded people who are fully prepared to take over the leadership of the country from their seniors.
Speaking on the current security situation in the country, Atiku appealed to the Federal Government to take the challenge more seriously. “If we can go to other countries to rid them of these kinds of problems, it shows that we have the capacity to put this one down immediately so that the suffering of the people can be reduced.”
In an earlier speech, chairman of the group, Afiyo described Atiku as an “honest and forthright leader, a courageous and dogged democrat, a loving and compassionate guardian, an accommodating and caring shepherd and a role model.”
He expressed happiness and satisfaction with the joint decision by both Obasanjo and Atiku to accede to their request to bury the hatchet, adding that this is a development that will go a long way in healing the rift in the country.
