Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has said the decision of the Senate to reject the bill seeking to devolve powers to states was against the campaign promise of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The upper chamber had rejected the bill during its constitutional review voting.

In a statement by his media office on Thursday, Atiku expressed disappointment at the upper chamber.

“This blockage of the bill by an APC-led Senate majority is a betrayal of our party’s pre-election promises. It was an important vote and I’m shocked by some so-called progressives’ visceral and cynical opposition to restructuring,” he said.

“I think this is disingenuous. And I think it is a sad day for our party. But I’m confident the APC will learn the right lesson from this self-inflicted defeat, and remember the mission and mandate given to us by the people.”

The APC chieftain, however, said he was hopeful that the lawmakers would muster “the courage to stand by what is right, and not by what serves their personal vanities and political interests.

“Let me be clear: Restructuring is no panacea to all our nation’s problems. But devolving resources and responsibilities from an overbearing, unresponsive, and ineffective Federal Government to the states is the first step we must make if we are serious about putting our nation back on track, and our people back to work.”

Azeez