Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has said he will engage the people of South East in dialogue to end insecurity in the area.
Atiku spoke, on Saturday, December 17, 2022, at a campaign rally of the party in Owerri, Imo State.
The erstwhile vice president stated that though there are security challenges all over the country, he was ready to seek ways to employ dialogue to arrest it in South East.
He noted that the Igbo are business people whose business ventures need to thrive in a secure environment.
Atiku stated that the people of South East will not regret voting for him.
He submitted that his administration will invest 10 billion dollars in empowering young men and women in businesses.
According to him, no one will have any reason to be idea under his administration.
“I know we have security challenges all over the country, let me tell you, when you elect me, I will come here, sit down with you, discuss with you, what is the problem, together, we will work out a settlement”, he stated.
‘Forget Atiku, Peter Obi Is Our Only Worry’ – APC Chieftain Confesses
Ahead of the forthcoming presidential election, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress, APC, Osita Okechukwu, has said his party is only worried about Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate and not about Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Okechukwu also said Bola Tinubu, APC’s presidential candidate, has come a long way and knows the country very well to win the 2023 presidential election, among other candidates.
The Director General of the Voice of Nigeria disclosed this on Monday, December 12, 2022 morning while featuring on the Arise Television Morning Show programme.
He said Atiku had lost his base and that he could not harvest Buhari’s 12 million votes.
“As per Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, what nobody can deny is that he knows the onion. He knows the gravitas, he knows the country, and he has come a long way. And we are not bothered about PDP; for instance, Atiku has lost his base.
“We are more bothered about Peter Obi and others. Kwankwaso, we know he is qualified and highly capable, but he is riding against the zoning convention. And so, if you tell us about Peter Obi, then we can say, ok, that is where we are worried, but not about Atiku, who has lost his base.
“Atiku cannot win; I challenge those who are saying so. He cannot harvest Buhari’s 12 million votes; he cannot. He does not have Buhari’s vote bank,” he said.
‘Beware Of Atiku And His Promises’ – Bola Tinubu Warns Nigerians Of His Rival
Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has counselled Nigerians to be wary of promises made by his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, counterpart, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who he said is only desperate to capture power by any means possible.
“We need to warn Nigerians to be wary of the sugar-coated promises of former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, and his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as they embark on their inordinate and desperate campaign to gain power at all cost,” he stated.
In a statement issued on Sunday, December 11, 2022, in Abuja by the Director, Media and Publicity of the Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, the APC candidate said PDP should be eternally shameful about its appalling record in governance between 1999 and 2015.
He lamented that the party is now busy rewriting history, embellishing the locust years as if it was a golden era in Nigeria’s history.
“Of course, this is fake history at its worst. We are not fooled.
“Nigerians should also not be fooled about the boldfaced lies, being articulated by the candidate and his party.
“What is more shocking is Atiku’s audacity in standing up to ask for our votes despite what his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote about him in his book, ‘My Watch’.
“Obasanjo wrote that it would have been an unpardonable mistake and sin against God to foist him on Nigeria.
“Obasanjo still believes so till tomorrow,” he said.
According to Tinubu, Obasanjo still rues till today making Atiku his vice president in 1999.
Tinubu said he was, however, not totally surprised about Atiku’s latest desperation.
“Aware that this is his last shot at the elusive presidency, Atiku, while on the hustings, has been spewing series of lies, making empty promises, and presenting a false narrative about our present reality and the legacy of the 16-year ignoble era of the PDP administration, of which he was a principal actor.
“He claimed at his rally in Abuja on Saturday that the country is not secure for trading and farming, a false narrative that he has been pushing around for some time, since he relocated to Nigeria from his base in Dubai, principally to contest the election.
“We believe in his private moment that Atiku will concede that his view about insecurity is exaggerated.
“Our country is certainly better secured than in 2015 when the PDP allowed insurgents to seize 17 local councils in Borno and some four councils in Atiku’s home state of Adamawa State, when Abuja was under constant bomb attacks and people slept with eyes wide open.
“What further proof of progress made by the APC does Atiku need than the fact that he was able, recently, to carry his party men and women to Maiduguri to hold a rally, without any attacks by insurgents and bandits.
“Atiku can also drive smoothly from Yola, his state capital to Jada, his home town on a reconstructed road by the Buhari-led APC administration.
“The road was impassable for the eight years Atiku was Vice President and got progressively bad and totally cut off from civilisation until the Buhari government reconstructed it.
“Atiku claimed that our country has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, without telling his audience that the problem, which was exacerbated by banditry in North West and insurgency in North East, took its root from the stewardship of his party when the population of out-of-school children phenomenally rose from 10.5 million in 2010 to 13.2 million in 2015.
“The most grotesque of Atiku’s promise is that he will ensure that the ASUU stopped going on strike so that universities “reopen forever and ever”.
Mr Atiku forgot to tell his audience that a PDP government in 2009 signed an agreement with ASUU, which it never implemented for six years, leaving the mess of the agreement for APC to deal with.
“Meanwhile, as Nigerian universities were left to rot under the PDP’s watch, Atiku and his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo opted to set up their own universities, ABTI-American University and Bell University, meant for the children of the rich.
“A pointer that this former vice-president has not changed in his character as portrayed by Obasanjo was his promise to sell the newly commercialised NNPC Ltd and all its assets and subsidiaries for just $10 billion.
“Even before inviting bids, he had already undervalued the oil conglomerate, the way he undervalued Nigerian companies he was asked to sell, under the abused privatisation programme of the Obasanjo administration.
“Nigerians will remember that he made a similar promise in 2019, saying he would sell the NNPC to his friends and cronies. Surely, he retains the same mindset, though he has changed the terminology to ‘privatisation’.
“In his campaign. Atiku’s refrain has been to tell the less-discerning Nigerians that he is on a recovery and restoration mission in presenting himself to be elected.
“The question every Nigerian must ask him in pidgin is: Recover Wetin?”, Tinubu queried.
