Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has disclosed that his ex-boss, former President Olusegun Obasanjo took away powers given to him by the law during their term in office between 1999 and 2007.
In a video shared on YouTube by Symfoni TV, Atiku was asked if he would devolve powers to his vice-president if he becomes president and he made it known that there are specific powers given to the office of the vice president and if he becomes president, he won’t take such powers away from his vice.
He made it known that he suffered under his former boss, Obasanjo. He said Obasanjo did not allow him to perform the full functions of a vice president and if he becomes president he won’t do the same thing to his vice, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. He said he will instead give his deputy more powers because he is intelligent.
In his exact words “I always know that two heads are better than one, do you think I don’t know what I did by selecting Okowa? He is a first-class doctor from secondary up to university. Okowa is a perfect vice president. And I can tell you I suffered from my own boss too. There are regulatory functions of the office of the vice president that you can’t take away.
“By regulatory I mean these are lawful functions of the vice president. In the law setting up they say the vice-president is the chairman of this, the vice-president is the chairman of that; my boss took them away, and it was unlawful. I am not going to do that, whatever is due to the office of the vice president I will give him, I will even give him more”.