Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, on Tuesday met with former military President, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida at his Uphill residence in Minna, Niger state capital.
Atiku arrived in Minna at about 1.30 pm and moved straight from the airport to Babangida’s house while Governor Makinde arrived at about 2.10 pm.
Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, Atiku said he was in the state to strengthen the state structure of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
“I am a member of ADC and we are busy trying to ensure that our structures are firmly rooted from the ward to the local to the state up to the national level. We are busy mobilizing people and registering people at the same time.
“This is not the first time I am coming to see Babangida. I am here to pay my respect. The issue of contesting in the 2027 election did not arise,” he stated.
He explained that the ADC has no provision for zoning in its constitution.
Speaking on the transmission of election results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Atiku said electronic means will cause less confusion and chaos, stressing that it is the preference of Nigerians.
“During the last elections, Nigerians were expecting real time electronic transmission of election results at various levels of the election but what we got is a mixture of electronic and manual uploading which caused more confusion and chaos. It will be best if we have a single tier electrical transmission which is real time electronic transmission which is the preference of all Nigerians,” he said.
He called on all opposition political parties to come together and reject the decision of the Senate to opt for only manual uploading of election results, adding that “we need all opposition political parties to pursue this issue. We should not allow it to rest the way they wanted it to rest today at the Senate.”
Makinde did not speak to journalists, as he did not come out from the inner chamber of IBB’s house after Atiku left.
Journalists were told that he is on a private visit and is not going to speak to anybody.
He left about 30 minutes after Atiku’s departure.
