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Tag: Atiku Abubakar

  • Atiku, Turaki knock FG over Plateau killings

    Two presidential aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and a former Minister of Special Duties, Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, have knocked the Federal Government over Sunday’s mass killing of Plateau villagers

    In separate interviews in Abuja on Tuesday, the two politicians blamed the security approach adopted by the Federal Government in the management of the crisis.

    While describing the killings as unfortunate Atiku said, “It is not every security breach you use hard power on. You need to establish dialogue between leadership of various communities that lived together over the years.

    “So the issue of using mere crude and hard power is not the only solution. There is also the need to use soft power on the issue of peaceful coexistence among communities”.

    On his part, Turaki, blamed the killings on the failure of the All Progressives Congress led Federal Government for failing to address security lapses across the country.

    Read Also: 2019: Atiku urges free, fair PDP primaries

    Turaki said, “If you recall, a few months ago, the National Security Agency had appeared before the Senate and disclosed that the greatest problem that the Nigeria security agencies have today is that the agencies work at cross purposes.

    “There is no cooperation, there is no synergy. If critical security agencies are not sharing information or working together, then how do you expect them to come up with tight security architecture that will safeguard the lives and properties of Nigerians? And that is what is happening”.

    Turaki, however, expressed the confidence that the PDP had all it takes to reclaim the leadership of the country in 2019 and return the country to a path of growth and prosperity.

    He said, “The PDP has men and women of impeccable integrity. Men and women that are known to be bridge builders, that have the needed education and experience. That is why we say PDP is different from every other political party in the country”.

  • No endorsement for any presidential aspirant – Bayelsa PDP

    The Bayelsa State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday said it had no preferred presidential aspirant for the 2019 general election.

    The party said all PDP aspirants were free to visit the state to seek support from the members and leadership of the party.

    The party made its position known following the Tuesday’s visit of former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, to consult the state Governor, Seriake Dickson over his presidential ambition.

    The state Chairman of the Party, Chief Moses Cleopas, said in a statement that the position of the party on presidential aspirants was endorsed by Dickson.

    He said is that the party would receive all aspirants and accord each of them the respect, hospitality and the courtesy they deserved.

    He stressed that while it was the position of the party to receive and hold consultative talks with all aspirants, the party in the state would not endorse any particular candidate before the convention.

    Read Also: Gunmen kill three soldiers in Bayelsa

    Cleopas explained that after receiving all the aspirants the party stakeholders would collectively take a decision on endorsement at the PDP convention.

    He said: “The Bayelsa State chapter of the PDP will receive all presidential aspirants under the platform of the party. The party in Bayelsa will ensure that all presidential aspirants are treated fairly with the respect and courtesy they deserve.

    “However, it is the position of the state chapter of the party that there would be no endorsement of any particular candidate before the convention.

    “The position of the state would be decided collectively and expressed at the convention ground.”

    Cleopas said that it was encouraging that people of integrity with the requisite political clout were aspiring to run for the Presidency in the 2019 election on the platform of the PDP.

    He said that the PDP had the strength to wrest political power from the APC in 2019, with its vast spread and visible presence in all the 774 local government areas and every ward in the country.

    The party chairman who stressed that Bayelsa is a PDP State thanked the leaders and members of the party for turning out en mass to receive one of the Presidential Aspirants,  Atiku Abubakar at a very shot notice and encouraged them to do same for other aspirants.

  • 2019: Atiku seeks Dickson’s support, vows to restructure Nigeria

    Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar on Tuesday took his 2019 presidential ambition to the Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, and stakeholders of the state’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and demanded their support.

    Abubakar, who arrived the State Government House in Yenagoa, at about 12pm also presented a document he developed on restructuring titled, “Restructuring as a pathway to unity and development in Nigeria”, to Dickson.

    The ex-vice-President was in company with a former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniels, the immediate past Minister of Nigeria Delta Affairs, Elder Godspower Orubebe among others.

    After a close-door meeting that lasted a few hours with the governor, Abubakar proceeded to the PDP secretariat where a crowd of party supporters received him in a brief rally.

    Addressing the party faithful, he commended Dickson for his developmental strides and thanked the people for allowing continuity and sticking with one party in the state.

    Speaking on continuity of governance, he said: “The last time I came here was several years ago. The changes l have seen in the state are monumental.

    “This is all because of you not because of one individual. You have been supporting this party since 1999 and what you are seeing today is as a result of your support and hard work.

    “Once you don’t change parties, you will see what is called good governance. Once you change from one party to another, this one will come, he will do this project and stop and another one will come and start another project and stop”.

    The former vice-president said he came back to the state to reconnect with the people and appealed to them to work with him to make the country like Bayelsa.

    “We have to work together to see the changes in Nigeria like you have been experiencing in Bayelsa. We must return PDP to power at the federal level. I am ready.  I was in the vanguard of fighting the military to return this country to democracy.

    Read Also: Atiku to APC: be ready to accept defeat

    “Some of us lost their lives but we succeeded. When we came back to democracy, we stood up to anti-democratic forces and you know l can stand up to anybody and any force in this country.

    “This country requires a change. Before 2015, you know how the economy was and today you know how the economy is. We have the largest unemployment in the history of this country since the APC came to office.

    “Because APC were never there before they don’t know how to create jobs, they don’t understand the economy, they don’t know how to govern and they never understood the complexities of this country”, he said.

    Atiku further commended Dickson for leading a campaign on restructuring saying he had been advocating the issue since 2004.

    “I have been following with keen interest your (Dickson’s) position on restructuring. If you know, I have been advocate of restructuring since 2004. Governor Dickson,  I would like to invite you as you join me as we work together towards 2019 so that we can do it together.

    “The governor and I are on the same page as far as the issue of restructuring is concerned. We have been consistent about it. For us to get the unity, progress and development we are looking for, we cannot escape from restructuring”, the politician said.

    In his remark at the Government House, Dickson described Atiku Abubakar as a veteran in politics insisting that the 2019 presidential election would be a referendum on restructuring.

    Dickson called on PDP members nationwide to rise up to the challenge of taking power from the incumbent government.

    He said: “We have the challenge to take power from an incumbent  administration and all of us know the nature and character of the government we are talking about.

    “I call for a rejection of a one-party dictatorship in the country. On behalf of our people, our position  on restructuring, whether you call it true federalism etc. unless people want to be mischievous, they mean the same thing.

    “The wishes and the mandate of the people of the Ijaw nation cutting across Ondo to Akwa Ibom. They have made their positions known over and over again that the 2019 election is going to be a referendum on restructuring.

    “In furtherance of this sacred mandate from our people, I have made several consultations with several leaders and even across political divides. I conveyed that message clearly to the president on the need to restructure Nigeria. I and our leaders have resolved to take this message to all nooks and crannies of this country.

    “That it is in the interest of everyone if we must exist in 200 , 300 years. Restructuring is a call for adjustment”.

    In his remarks, a former Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, said Atiku would do for Ijaw and the Niger Delta what former President Goodluck Jonathan could to do for them.

    Orubebe said Jonathan could not restructure the country in the interest of Ijaw and Niger Delta but that Atiku would undertake the task.

    He said the PDP was in need of a man like Atiku to win the election and advised the people to convince others to buy into the vision of Atiku.

    He said: “When you leave here, talk to every Ijaw woman, talk to every Ijaw youth. What we cannot get during Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, it is Atiku that will give it to us and that is restructuring”.

    “Atiku is an enigma. What we need now in PDP is a man with capacity and vision. What they stop the region from getting under Dr. GoodLuck Jonathan, Atiku will provide more.”

  • Let June 12 inspire promotion of democratic principles – Atiku

    Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has urged politicians to let June 12 and all it embodied to inspire them to promote democratic principles, especially as Nigerians prepared for 2019 polls.

    Abubakar made the call in a statement he issued on Monday in Abuja to mark the 25th anniversary of June 12.

    He said that there was need to remind Nigerians that the democracy which the country enjoyed today did not come at a cheap price.

    “It came at the cost of supreme price paid by persons that included Chief MKO Abiola, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, Maj-Gen. Shehu Yar’Adua, Chief Alfred Rewane and Bagauda Kaltho, among thousands of other patriots.

    “Democracy isn’t merely a mechanism of appointing a government; its beauty is in the inherent safeguard to the citizenry to live and prosper as free people under the law.”

    Abubakar warned against what he called “a consistent pattern of departure from constitutional due process’’ to tendencies of authoritarianism.

    He said that there was a growing culture of arbitrariness in some of the institutions of government at all levels, contradictory to the notion of inclusiveness and fairness that a democratic society guaranteed.

    Read Also: June 12: Katsina Govt backs Buhari as Atiku’s ex-aide threatens law suit

    The former vice president stated that foundation of a democratic society was the guarantee of fundamental human rights that gave the citizenry freedom of speech and freedom of movement.

    He said that it was the exclusive responsibility of the state through the various security organizations to see to the protection of the fundamental rights of the people.

    Abubakar added that it would, however, become an anathema in a democracy if institutions of government began to act in negation of the noble objectives.

    Recalling the recent campaign by youths across the country against the brutality of the anti-robbery unit of the Police, he noted that up till now there had yet to be a fundamental reform in the operations of that unit.

    “Today, across our major cities and even in the hinterlands, citizens – especially the youth – can hardly walk freely in open avenues without the police stopping them to search through the content of their mobile handsets.

    “Civil servants now lose their jobs just because they choose to criticize politicians in government positions.

    “There are even suggestions in some quarters that civil servants should be barred from signing to social media networks.

    “Opposition politicians are regularly being hounded on wanton criminal and civil prosecutions.

    “All of these narratives have become a consistent pattern of behaviour that is antithetical to an open and democratic society.”

    Abubakar also decried what he described as “reign of fascism’’ with governors who had suddenly become overlords, dealing ruthlessly with anyone who dared to challenge their foothold of intimidation and oppression at the states.

    NAN

  • Ekiti Poll: Atiku, Mark, Ekweremadu PDP Govs to storm Ekiti for Olusola

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Senate President David Mark, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and the 11 governors elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will be storming Ekiti State for the governorship election campaign any time soon.

    The 40-man Campaign Council inaugurated by the leadership of the party in Abuja on Monday, is chaired by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel.

    Other members of the council include the party’s presidential aspirants like Ahmed Makarfi, Ibrahim Shekarau, Sule Lamido the party’s immediate past former governors and serving federal lawmakers.

    While inaugurating the council, the national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said the All Progressives Congress has turned Ekiti State into a “war zone”.

    He alleged that the APC was training a special killer squad to kill opponents and disperse rallies organised by the PDP in Ekiti, with the view to foisting a one-party-state.

    Secondus said, “The motive of these deliberate police state being established by the ruling party is obvious; to distract and disorganise the opponent to enable them hold on to power and establish one party state.

    The party chair further accused the APC administration of unnecessarily heating up the polity by resorting to what he described as devious means to undermine the democratic process.

    The chairman continued, “The signs are there for all to see that the attitude of the ruling party is that of a drowning man desperate to survive and whose posture is ‘if I cannot make it, let me go down with others’

    “Information available to us shows that in Ekiti, they are trying to use all skillful underhand means to achieve goals but the people are well charged to not only come out to cast their votes on July 14 but that they are ready to defend it.

    Read Also: NPO, Buhari, Tinubu, Atiku mourn Aboderin

    “At this juncture, let me warn that if there is any attempt to thwart the will of the people in Ekiti state, there may be no general election and the entire democratic process will be endangered”.

    He cautioned the APC against obstructing the will of the people, saying such moves could throw up negative consequences.

    “I tried to let them know that Ekiti State shares in that history when the then second republic ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) attempted  to use their federal controlled might to hijack power from the then Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) that was on ground in the old Ondo state for which Ekiti was part.

    “Men of wisdom had long told us that the easy way to repeat history is to refuse to learn from it. I charge APC leadership to take time and read our political history and know that the route they are headed are akin to that of the NPN days if not worse”, Secondus said.

    The party chairman called on the international community and all lovers of democracy to show more than passing interest in what is happening in different parts of the country.

    Chairman of the campaign council, Governor Emmanuel, said the PDP would win Ekiti State because of the achievements of Governor Ayodele Fayose.

    Emmanuel challenged his fellow governors in the APC to present their performance profile and to compare their achievements with their counterparts in the PDP.

    “If the APC is hoping to use federal might to win Ekiti poll, the PDP has the people behind it”, Emmanuel said.

  • Atiku, Saudi German Hospital in Joint Venture

    …. To Establish 100-Bed Hospital, Referral Centre

     

    Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has partnered with the management of Saudi German Hospital, Dubai to establish a referral centre and also a 100-bed hospital in Abuja.

    The partnership, it was learnt is in the final stages and would soon be commissioned.

    Speaking after a meeting with a delegation of the management of Saudi German Hospital, led by Dr. Rajeev Kaushal, the former Vice President said that the joint venture hospital project has the potential to reduce the spate of medical tourism among Nigerians and provide safe and quality healthcare for her citizens.

    “My meeting with the delegation of the management of Saudi German Hospital led by Dr. Rajeev Kaushal over joint partnership with our company,  West Africa Health-Care Company Ltd for the establishment of a 100-bed hospital in Abuja, was very fruitful. The joint venture that we have embarked upon promises to break new grounds in medical services delivery in Nigeria.”

    The former Vice President, who is also founder of West Africa Health-Care Company Ltd, stressed that apart from creating much-needed medical and support services jobs, the venture will also facilitate the transfer of skills to Nigerians.

    Dr. Kaushal in his remark decried the fatality rate from non-communicable diseases in the country, saying that figures from World Health Organisation indicates that over 72,000 cancer patients die annually due to lack of access to quality diagnosis and treatment.

    Read Also: 2019: Atiku acquires office for presidential campaign

    On the joint venture, he noted that the proposed 100-bed hospital will not only be equipped with world class facilities for the provision of safe and quality healthcare services but would also help curb the spate of medical tourism among Nigerians.

    “The hospital we are proposing to build in collaboration with West Africa Health-Care Company Ltd being promoted by His Excellency Atiku Abubakar will have all the facilities needed for comprehensive treatment of most non-communicable diseases, especially cancer.

    “This initiative will help curb medical tourism among Nigerians, which is very high at the moment. Though it is not possible to fully stop Nigerians from embarking on medical trips abroad, but we can reduce the trend with the establishment of a world class hospital, equipped with modern health facilities for diagnosis and treatment,” he added.

    Dr. Kaushal urged Nigerians to maintain a healthy life style by eating balanced diet, exercising regularly, avoiding red meat and tobacco so as to prevent the possibility of having cancer.

    Meantime, Semira Dikbas, International Patient Affairs Advisor of the Referral Centre located in Maitama area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) said that the first step in this joint initiative between Atiku Abubakar and Saudi German Hospital is in the final stages and would soon be commissioned. The Referral Centre, she said, would be fully equipped to carry out Cancer diagnosis and, other health examinations.

    The proposed Referral Center will act as a bridge between Nigerians and the Saudi German Hospital located in Dubai wherein there will be monthly visits of specialized doctors from Dubai and also occasional health checkup programmes.

    Once the patient is presented at the center, an initial diagnosis will be done and those who require further medical management will be referred to the Dubai Hospital. All the required logistics starting from Visa/Flight Booking/Hotel Accommodation and all other travelling concerns of the patient will be taken care of by a dedicated team from the hospital located at Dubai.

  • Saraki, Atiku seek prayer for Nigeria’s unity

    President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar have urged Muslims to pray continuous unity and peaceful coexistence in the country.

    Saraki said: “The commencement of fasting has yet provided us with rare and unique opportunity to fervently pray over the security situation of the country and call on Allah to help us restore sanity and love among our country men and women.

    “Nigerians, Muslims in particular, should make use of this opportunity to pray for the end of insecurity and other violent crimes threatening our existence both as a people and nation.”

    He noted that Ramadan was a unique and special period for Muslims around the world to renew their faith in Allah, deepen their worship and practicalise the injunctions of the Holy Quran in their daily lives.

    “May Almighty Allah be praised for another unique opportunity to fast and pray in obedience to the dictates of the Holy Quran, which is to fulfill one of the five pillars of Islam, through family and congregational prayers, sharing of Iftar meals and being generous to the less fortunate around us.

    “Apart from being a time to assist the weak, vulnerable and less fortunate among us, let us utilise this period to pray for continuous peace and unity in the country because with Allah’s help all our individual and national challenges are surmountable,” he said.

    Saraki urged all Muslims to strictly observe the injunctions of the Holy Quran as they pertain to their conduct and personal disposition during the holy month to benefit maximally from the fasting exercise.

    His deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, expressed worries over the incessant killings across the country and urged them to pray for divine help for Nigeria.

    “The killings are quite disturbing. We have never had it so bad in peace time. Therefore, while the security agencies do their best to end the carnage, I also call on our Muslim brethren to fast and pray fervently in this holy month of Ramadan for divine intervention in the security and stability of the country.

    “I urge sober reflection towards true national reconciliation, peace, unity, and justice to enable our nation to make a meaningful progress”.

    Ekweremadu wished the Muslim Umah a rewarding holy month of Ramadan.

    Atiku, who described Ramadan as period of recompense, piety and separation from

    sin, said Muslims must be ready to sacrifice and pray to Almighty Allah who made Ramadan a blessing for them.

    He added that the holy month of Ramadan was an avenue for every Muslim to reflect on the past, with a view to seeking forgiveness from Allah.

    He admonished Muslims to manifest the spirit of love, oneness, charity, reflection, obedience and other tenets of Islam during and after the Ramadan.

    He noted that “the 29 or 30 days of fasting should be dedicated to moving closer to Allah. We all have to pray for the progress and economic recovery of the nation.

    “As a Muslim, I believe so much in prayers, especially the ones offered during Ramadan because this is a period of purification when a Muslim is expected to, more than ever before, show piety in all areas of life.

    “So, any prayer offered at such period is always acceptable as the Almighty Allah is merciful and benevolent.”

    Abubakar wished Nigerian Muslims a fruitful Ramadan and appealed to them to imbibe honesty, love and peace during the period and beyond.

  • Buhari, Atiku supporters clash over calls for Privatization of refineries

    Supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar are currently engaged in a war of words over calls by the former Vice President for the privatization of some aspect of the nation’s oil and gas sector.

    While supporters of the President under the auspices of the Buhari Media Organisation described Atiku’s call for the privatization of the oil and gas sector, especially the refineries as callous and anti-people, the All-Atiku Support Group the criticism was a display of poor knowledge about modern economic management.

    The former Vice President who is one of the front runners for the PDP presidential ticket was quoted as saying that he would embark on privatization of the oil and gas sector if he is elected President in the 2019 elections.

    In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja and signed by Coordinator Austin Braimoh, and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group says it finds unpalatable “the texture of this proposal at this point in the development trajectory of our country.”

    The group says it is “rather simplistic for any presidential contender with avowed love of the mass of the Nigerian people to join the advocacy for the sell-off of our national assets, especially the ones that most impact the standard of living of the huge population of Nigeria’s poor and struggling middle class.”

    The Buhari Media office said it was amazed that “an eminent Nigerian in the class of Alhaji Atiku would propose the privatisation of the oil and gas sector, inclusive of the refineries, when it is obvious that the privatisation of the refineries directly translates to increased price of petroleum products, especially the widely-used Premum Motor Spirit (PMS) with dire consequences on high transport cost aggregating in high inflation rates with massive decline in the standard of living of the people.

    According to them, it was obvious that Alhaji Atiku is merely amplifying the long condemned International Monetary Funds (IMF) recommendation for commercial pricing of petroleum products when, in fact, it is established that such products must be socially priced.”

    BMO says Nigerians have resisted “and will continue to resist the IMF and any of the Bretton Woods institutions’ intervention in policy reforms of the national economic template in the understanding that these policies are anti-people in orientation and outlook.

    “Our position is that any private entity that desires to own and operate companies in the oil and gas sector, especially in the refinery subsector, should go ahead and secure license and establish their own refineries. Businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote has shown example in this regard with his 650 thousand barrels a day refinery in Lekki, Lagos State.

    “It is appropriate to question, at this point, the going status of the many public corporations sold off at highly undervalued rates to cronies and fronts of high government officials between 2002 and 2007 when Alhaji Atiku was the nation’s Vice President. Status reports on the various operations of these corporations indicate vastly diminished operations and viability.

    “Thankfully, we are already experiencing a revival in the oil and gas sector under the disciplined superintendent of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. The refineries are recording increased refining capacity while gas supplies to electricity generating companies have increased by more than 100 percent over the last 12 months.”

    But the Coordinator, Mr. Oladimeji Fabiyi All-Atiku Support Group described the criticism as a display of poor knowledge about modern economic management.

    Fabiyi said “What the BMO has done by its criticism of Atiku’s proposal is to further expose its lack of knowledge in the ways modern economies are run. As it is today, the NNPC is unprofitable, unwieldy and not accountable. Compared to its contemporaries like Petronas of Malaysia and Petrobras of Brazil which have since liberalized and modernized its operations, the NNPC still riddles in inefficiency and obvious lack of capacity.

    “There are clearly good examples of how liberalization of some sectors of the economy had benefitted Nigerians such as in the telecommunications industry and the banking industry. If the Obasanjo/Atiku administration had held on to NITEL, we wouldn’t have had the GSM revolution.

    “If our commercial banks were not recapitalized, we still would be having failed banks. It is important to note that similar groups to the BMO had opposed the banking consolidation and telecoms revolution as anti-people, but history has shown that they were wrong.

    “The trend the world over is for countries to liberalize the downstream sub-sector of the oil sector to improve efficiency and ensure product availability at all times. We are surprised that the BMO is ignorant of Saudi Arabia’s celebrated decision to privatize Aramco and raise needed cash to fund its social and economic services.

    “We know exactly who the masquerades are: they are the very people who feed fat on the misfortune that has befallen the refineries – largely as a result of the inaction of the government.

    “What will happen when the NNPC is liberalized is that the company will be more transparent and accountable and Nigerians can actually buy into the shares of the NNPC. Maybe, by that time too, we could have energy revolution.

    “Tying the proposal for the liberalization of NNPC to ‘amplifying the long condemned IMF recommendation’ smacks of illiteracy and a poor attempt to hoodwink Nigerians about the shadiness in the operations of the NNPC.

    “For an administration that campaigned heavily about jettisoning subsidy regime and ‘stabilizing global oil prices’ coming out to criticize a workable idea to liberalize the country’s oil and gas sector is unfortunate to say the least.

    “Today, this administration pays over N1.4 Trillion annually on subsidy on fuel consumption in Nigeria, a staggering 386% when compared to the figure of N774 million daily given in March this year. Till this day, ordinary Nigerians have no idea how much revenue the NNPC makes in crude sales and the NNPC continues to drench in corruption without transparency and accountability.

    “The contradiction inherent in the position of President Buhari on subsidy is evident for Nigerians to see.  After saying there was no subsidy, to making Nigerians buy fuel at the highest price in the history of this country without palliative or cushioning effects to Nigerians and now paying over 1 trillion naira on subsidy. This same contradiction attendant upon by shallow understanding of economics is what leaves Nigeria with a jumbled compassless economy devoid of defined ideology. The world has moved beyond indecision.

    “You can’t be going to the US to negotiate free market deals in the name of wooing investors while coming home to frustrate any genuine attempt to free the economy.  The most fundamental question is what has the Buhari administration done to the refineries? Three years down the line, Nigeria still imports fuel. And some people want us stuck to a past that does not work.  We need a present that can make Nigeria work again.”

  • Atiku visits bomb blast victims, donate N10m

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Monday visited victims of the Mubi suicide attack receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Yola, where he donated N10 million to the hospital Paupers’ Fund.

    Abubakar told newsmen after he was conducted round the hospital wards to console the victims that he was satisfied with the hospital’s effort in the treatment of the patients as well as their response.

    The News men recalls that the twin bomb blasts occurred a week ago, killing scores of people and injuring many others.

    The first blast was said to have occurred at the mosque located in the market, killing all members of the congregation before the second one destroyed another part of the market.

    Atiku applauded the commitment of the management of the hospital and the committee it set up to manage the Paupers’ Fund meant for the treatment of underprivileged persons.

    “I once donated N10 million to the fund and decided to make another donation of N10 million today because I am quite satisfied with the way the fund is being managed.

    “Patients that cannot afford to get medical treatment can benefit from the fund.”

    Abubakar underscored the need to recruit more security personnel, especially policemen, to boost internal security.

    “Happily, I have heard an announcement that more policemen are being recruited though not sufficient.

    Read Also: Atiku condemns Adamawa bombing, says terrorists are enemies of civilization

    “There is also the need to look into the training of security personnel so that they can confront the current challenges.”

    Also speaking, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof. Muhammad Auwal, thanked the former vice president for his support to the hospital.

    “He is the major financier of our Paupers’ Fund and I want to put it on record that the fund, since inception, had financed the treatment of about 300 patients, including those with major surgeries.

    “The management of the hospital has no access to the fund and there is no exchange of money at all; we give the service and the fund pays directly into our TSA,” Auwal said.

    NAN

     

  • PDP will win between 25 and 27 states in 2019 – Atiku

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has predicted sweeping victory for the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), saying the umbrella party will win between 25 and 27 States in the 2019 presidential elections.

    Atiku said his assurance of victory for the PDP was predicated on the fact that Nigerians are already fed up with the hardship and intolerable disposition of the present APC-led government.

    He challenged Nigerians to oust APC from government if they desired to continue to have a  country

    He spoke on Wednesday at the PDP Secretariat during his consultation visit in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital.

    The PDP presidential hopeful said that those making Nigeria unbearable for its citizens today, were not part of the struggles towards the actualization of democracy.

    His words “The country is in its worse state today. I have never seen it since the civil war. Ethnic division, north against south, this is very dangerous for our survival as a country. We must do all what we can to address this situation. We have to unite together to arrest this, otherwise you would one day wake up and find out that we don’t have a country, God forbid”.

    “We may end up with 25-27 PDP states in Nigeria, because every part of this country is fed up with this government. And this is the most intolerant government I have ever seen in this country. And unfortunately for us, he was not even part of this struggle”.

    “The situation in APC states is horrible. You cannot even meet like this. They are intolerable because they were not part of the struggle for actualization of democracy. If PDP was like this, there would not have been any opposition party in this country”.

    “Let us therefore unite and make sure that we free this country and our people from this situation. The political restructuring of this country is inevitable, whether we like it or not. We must deploy resources and powers to the federated units of this country. If states and Local Government Areas are given more resources and powers, the people would hold them accountable”.

    He decried the disunity, ehnicity, division and religious intollerance so far promoted by the present federal government, noting that such was quite dangerous for the continued survival and oneness of the country.

    He maintained that given the extent of decay in the country at the moment, Nigerians would need to support a candidate with the qualities, capacity, experience and the qualification to face the challenges. “I can do that job, but only with your support”.  He assured.

    Earlier, the former National Chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Chief Jim Nwodo said Nigeria has reached the lowest point where hunger, poverty and killing of the people have become the order of the day.

    He described Nigeria as a country  under sieze when there is no war. Adding that the present federal government has failed to fulfill its campaign promises.

    “We have never had it this bad. We were promised we’ll never go abroad for medical treatment, but the person who made the promise is first to go.  Someone we’ve not seen his school certificate calls our youths lazy. In this state of total hopelessness, we bring a Messiah today.  An examplary entrepreneur, who recognizes intellect.

    In their goodwill messages, stakeholders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom State unanimously expressed optimism that Atiku has the pedigree and the distribalized disposition to pull Nigeria out of its present predicament.

    The party leaders consisting the state Party Chairman, Obong Paul Ekpo,  Senator Anietie Okon, Sen. Helen Esuene, chief Ndueso Essien, former Governor Chris Ekpenyong recalled Atiku’s role during the resource control struggles. They unanimously stressed the need for restructuring Nigeria and assured that Akwa Ibom practices PDP as a religion.

    “If the state governor this time around gives a directive that is not in our collective interests, we the elders of the party would deviate” Ekpenyong assured.