- Atiku’s emergence will unsettle evil in Nigeria, says Adeleke
- APC condemns PDP for blocking express roads over campaign
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has promised the people of Osun State that he would start addressing challenges of insecurity, youth unemployment and economic deprivation among others from the first day he assumes office if elected president.
Atiku made the promise on Wednesday while speaking at the presidential campaign rally at the Freedom Park area of Osogbo, Osun State capital.
The former Vice President who thanked the people of the state for voting for Senator Ademola Adeleke as the governor of the state overwhelmingly at the July 16 governorship election in Osun, urged them to replicate see for him at the February, 2023 election.
He said should a PDP government emerge at the centre, it would be to the greater good of Osun because his administration at the Federal level would empower Governor Adeleke with more resources in authority to do what needed to be done in terms of provision of infrastructures needed for development, investing in education, healthcare and bringing about industrialization for the economic benefit of the people of the state.
Addressing a large crowd that stormed the campaign venue, Atiku said, “I have come to thank you for what you have done in 2022 guber election, you are wonderful people for returning PDP to power in the last state election and I believe by returning PDP into power at Federal level, you will strengthen this authority because a federal government controlled by PDP and state government controlled by PDP in Osun is to the greater good of you all.”
On how he would start nipping nation’s challenges in the bud, the presidential candidate noted that, “Our only objective is to make sure that current challenges of insecurity, disunity, economic deprivation, lack of jobs to our youths and the future of this country through restructuring can be achieved. These, I promise you. I am going to start doing them from day one in office.
“It means empowering Osun State with more resources in authority to do what need to be done, what need to be done is to provide infrastructural needed for development, investing in education, healthcare and bring about industrialization for the economic benefit of the people of Osun.
“I appeal to you to come out in great number like you did in the last state election and vote PDP in the next year election. That is the only way you can secure your future and that of your children, we will not fail you, we are not like APC, we have done it before, we got the experience and capacity to bring the needed changes. We are not new as far as governance is concerned in Nigeria.”
In his remarks, the Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, informed party supporters that Atiku’s emergence would unsettle evil in Nigeria because the former deputy president has fear of God.
Adeleke said Atiku would fulfill all his campaign promises saying, “the experience of PDP presidential candidate is so enormous, when he served the country as the Vice President, he was the one that stabilized the economy, he made it to grow, we need someone like him to steer the affairs of the country.
“When elected, Nigeria will grow from strength to strength. Emergence of Atiku will unsettle evil in this country because he has the fear of God. He will govern Nigeria with rule of law and due process. I have been speaking to him on the issue of security and he promised to find a lasting solution to the challenges. He will end kidnapping,” he assured.
Also speaking at the rally, National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Iyorchia Ayu told the crowd that of all the presidential candidates that are jostling to be elected as the next President, it is only Atiku who has the experience, the will and ability to pull the country out of its current ugly conditions.
Some other dignitaries who spoke at the rally included Atiku’s running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, Atiku’s wife, Titi Abubakar, former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Chairman, Presidential Campaign Council of PDP, Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State, among others. They all pleaded with the people of the state to cast their votes for Atiku.
Meanwhile, Lasun Yusuf, a former governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the July 16 governorship election in Osun State formally defected to PDP during the rally.
The state governor, Adeleke announced Yusuf’s defection alongside his supporters to the PDP while members cheered them.
It could be recalled that the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi had stormed Osogbo to campaign for Yusuf during build-up to the gubernatorial poll.
Yusuf, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, had garnered 2,729 votes at the poll to clinch 5th position.
Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has condemned the untold hardship created for the inhabitants of Osogbo through the blockage of some major roads because of the rally.
A statement by the Osun APC media director, Kola Olabisi, said, “motorists and pedestrians in Osogbo, the state capital, woke up this morning to observe that the road from Onisekere to Okefia and Lameco to Okefia were blocked by the police who are acting on the authority of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
“There is no justifiable reason for Adeleke to have deliberately subjected the innocent and peace-loving people of the state to untold and avoidable suffering because of the visit of an individual whose mission in the state has nothing to do with the government’s business.
“It is more worrisome that the new administration in the state could flagrantly choose to add to the economic suffering of the people of the state who have to pay cut-throat fares because of the scarcity of fuel that is ravaging the state.
“The blockage of the roads is an indication that the Adeleke government is insensitive, inconsiderate and glaringly oppressive. Why must all the inhabitants of Osogbo be made to go through this harrowing experience because an individual, Atiku, carried his campaign train to the state capital?
The most pathetic aspect of the development is that the blockage of the two roads have debilitating effects on smooth vehicular movements in all other parts of the state capital. What qualifies the roads to be closed because of Atiku’s visit when he is not yet the nation’s President but a presidential candidate?
If this is the way the PDP wants to be running the administration of the state without having feelings for the comfort of the people, it means the people have a lot of hazzles to contend with. It is a fact that Atiku’s campaign is not such an official business of government that could warrant blocking of roads and depriving the masses rights to go about their lawful businesses.
“He is not yet a president. It is nauseating and embarrassing that the PDP is being sold to the public in this way without a modicum of the display of empathy for the people of the state,” the statement read.
