….As Okowa laments hunger in the country
…. PDP is coming to rescue Nigeria, Gov Emmanuel assures
By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has vowed to restore peace in Plateau State if voted as the next President of the country in 2023.
Atiku equally promised to attract development to the state in addition to empowering the youth and women through small and medium scale enterprises.
The PDP presidential candidate and former Vice President of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 gave the assurance while speaking at the party’s presidential campaign rally held in Jos, Plateau State capital, yesterday.
At the rally where Governors, top party chieftains and leaders were in attendance, Atiku promised to recreate the wealth of Plateau State.
His words, “We have promised you that if you vote for the PDP, and I know you will, we will return peace and development to Plateau State, especially for all the youths that are here, men and women.
“We will recreate Plateau’s wealth so that you can have jobs and employment. Those who want to work will be there and those who want to learn handwork will have the opportunity.
“Most of the roads linking neighboring states are bad because the APC-led government has failed to construct these roads in the last 8 years. This we have promised we will do, if you vote for PDP”, he said.
Atiku, who recalled that it was in Jos that late Chief MKO Abiola, the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, was nominated in 1993 as well as Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the presidential candidate of the PDP in 1999, expressed the optimism that with the support of the people Jos in particular and Plateau in general, he too will be victorious at the polls.
Speaking at the rally, the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP and Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, lamented that there is so much hunger in the country, assuring however
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar will turn things around in Nigeria and hunger will be no more in this country, it elected.
According to him, “Our youths, after finishing schools, have not been able to get employment . Atiku Abubakar is going to turn things around. He is going to tell you how he is going to do it.
“He is a man of honor, a father that we can trust, he is not one of those that look at newspapers and begin to quote figure. He is a man with Knowledge and experience to turn things around”, Okowa declared.
The Chairman of the PDP presidential campaign council and Governor of Akwa Ibom, Mr Udom Emmanuel, in the remarks at the rally, said, “We are here to assure you that PDP is coming back again. We are coming on a rescue mission. We will restore peace in Plateau state. We will restore the economy of plateau state.
“There are so many places in the world, they don’t have anything more than flower. Sometimes last year, Plateau alone produced the quantity of potato that could feed the whole of West Africa and they could not export one.
“Under Atiku Abubakar, Plateau State would be a major exporter of what they are producing. And that would stimulate the economy.
“Before now, Plateau was the center of enterprise, Plateau was driven by the economy of the private enterprise. Today, due to a lack of peace, due to insecurity in Plateau State, all that has vanished.
“I’m standing as a surety of the government of Atiku Abubakar that he will restore peace, he will restore security, he will restore the economy”, he stated.
The National Chairman of PDP, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, while reminding those present that he had lived in Plateau State for 22 years, said, “We are on a historic mission. PDP started in Plateau State by my father, Chief Solomon Lar. He was the one who took me out and we linked up with other patriotic leaders like Abubakar Rimi, Jerry Gana, Sule Lamido, Malam Adamu Ciroma, Atiku Abubakar and so many leaders, including your own son, governor Jonah Jang.
“He (Solomon Lar) built this party to be the party of the people. PDP is owned by the people of Nigeria and that is you. When you leave PDP, PDP left you and you started suffering. Therefore, this party is going to rebuild plateau and the country. Whatever cracks that existed in the party is now all over.
“We want to thank our leaders, governor Jonah Jang, J.T Useni, Amb. Yahaya Kwande. All these leaders have been reunited and we want all the followers to be reunited so that we can win Plateau back together. My brother Fidelis Tapgun these are great leaders and I have seen today that the party is back in one single piece.
‘I came here and received many decampees, thousands and thousands of decampees. I am sure PDP today is a rock. Nobody can dislodge PDP again in Plateau State. This is going to rebuild Plateau, reconstruct Nigeria and I want a state where PDP is granted to vote the highest number of vote.
“I don’t want you to be number two, the highest number of votes should come from here. PDP is the one that will rebuild your universities, it will not close your universities for one year, it will rebuild your roads, you can see what governor Jang did when he was governor. There is no reason to go and vote a party that will destroy what we were trying to build”, Ayu maintained.
