Atiku More Dangerous Than Buhari — Balarabe Musa

The chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Redemption Party, Balarabe Musa, has said that despite the glaring failure of President Muhammadu Buhari, he is still better than the former vice president and now Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

ORIENTAL TIMES learnt that the elder statesman who made the remark in kaduna yesterday said ‎there is no doubt that Mr Buhari has failed Nigerians.

He however said Mr Abubakar will fail even more if elected in 2019.

Mr Musa also said the choice between Messrs. Buhari and Abubakar is a question of a choice between “two devils”.

The former Kaduna governor said the forces backing Mr Abubakar, which include former presidents, will not allow him rule well if he wins the poll. He also said all the forces are only interested in is to defeat Mr Buhari during the 2019 presidential election .

“Buhari has failed but Atiku will fail even more because of Atiku’s connection with some forces among them former presidents who ‎are on the root of the rot we are now facing in this country,” he said.

“For Atiku to align with them for whatever reason, is more dangerous th‎an Buhari.

“Because all they have to tell Nigerians is that they want to defeat Buhari but is that all Nigerians want to know? “Nigerians want to know what is the qualitative and demonstrative character and differences between Atiku and Buhari and between APC and PDP.

“There is nothing; so it’s a question of choice between two devils. So the only thing is that if we are faced with such a situation and we can’t have a credible alternative like we had when former President Badamasi Babangida established two political parties.

“One to the left and other other one to the right calling one SDP and the other NRC, and if you want to participate in politics then you have no choice but to select one of the two and there nothing you could do about it.

“So if we still face with that kind of situation today, whether you support Atiku or Buhari or support PDP or APC — which we don’t pray to have such a situation.

“But if we do face such situation, then it’s better to support Buhari because he is a lesser problem to Atiku.

“Because Atiku with him being rich and with the support of those forces, we will have a greater task in handling him,” he said.

‎On whether Mr Abubakar’s business experience can help revive Nigeria’s economy, Mr Musa said the country does not need a business man to control its destiny.

“It’s the question of private enterprise versus public enterprise. If we really don’t want to risk this economy, then we have to rely on the state to lead the economy.

“We can’t take up the economy by depending on private enterprise. What is the character of Nigeria’s private enterprise? It’s simple parasitic. “It was created not even by the colonialists. It’s created by corruption and it was when the military came that we have these corrupts private enterprises.

“The choice of these people that we have now who are the marchants in private enterprise arose from the product of corruption. “How can you rely on them to build a nation. Whether we like it or not we need a system whereby the state plays a role in the economy.

“Up till 1970 we registered some progress throughout the country on basis of the state controlling the economy. “Even though we are not saying that there is no private enterprise, but the public and private enterprises should compete under the leadership of public enterprise because it is the public‎ that can control the destiny of the people.

“Not private enterprise that is only interested in profits. Maximization of profits that all. “Buhari relies on his credibility only but what about Atiku? He relies only on his wealth. Buhari’s level of power to decide ‎as an individual is very limited and you can use democratic process to control him whether he likes it or not.

“But how can you control Atiku who is so wealthy and with the forces behind him. This is why I said it’s better to rely on Buhari despite his failure.”