Yobe state Governor Mai Mala Buni, yesterday returned to a rousing state reception at Maiduguri International airport before proceeding to Damaturu after handing over the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to new National Chairman, Senato Abdullahi Adamu on Wednesday.
Buni who was received by a huge crowd at the Maiduguri International Airport, drove through the dangerous Maiduguri/Damaturu highway in a long convoy into the waiting hands of yet another tumultuous crowd at Warsala, a border town between Yobe and Borno state.
The grand reception took place at the August 27 Stadium which was filled to capacity. It had in attendance the Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Sen. Ahmed Ibrahim Lawan, as well as the deputy governors of neighboring Borno and Gombe States.
Addressing the crowd, Gov. Buni promised to focus on making youths in the state productive. According to him, over 300,000 youths in the state will receive different empowerments to make them active entrepreneurs as a deliberate way of taking them off the poverty line. He thanked the people of the state for understanding with him while he was serving as the acting National Chairman of the APC. Buni also promised to procure and distribute tricycles to youths across the State to make them self-reliant.
“Youth constitute the larger number of our population in the state. A strategic investment in this direction will be the best for the future of our dear state. Gov. Buni said.
In his remarks, the Senate President Ahmed Lawan said Buni had made Yobe proud with the successes he recorded during his time at the helms of the affairs of the party and for conducting a successful convention. “We are proud Yobeans because you have done everything and anything expected of you as the chairman and convention planning committee head,” Lawan said.