Thousands of supporters and ordinary folks were cheering yesterday as President Muhammadu Buhari led members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council to the Niger Delta. The campaign train stopped over in Warri, Delta State and Benin, Edo State.
He assured the people that his promise to develop the region would continue to receive serious attention.
The President, who gave the assurance at the Warri Township Stadium during the flag-off of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign/ mega rally for the party’s candidates in Delta State, said his administration’s fight against corruption would receive more serious steam if re-elected next month.
Coming as the last speaker at the event, which saw a massive turnout of people from various parts of the state, Buhari noted that his administration will continue to give attention to issues of security and economy, noting that security would allow for a proper management of resources and in return give room for a thriving economy.
He said: “I assure you, the fundamental objectives we have identified and campaigned on in 2015 are still relevant; the country has to be secured to be properly managed and proper management means doing well in the economy. We have a young population, most of them unemployed, this is of great concern.
“We have turned to agriculture and industry. Massively, God has helped us with raining seasons, especially the last two, and we have virtually been able to achieve food security as a nation. A lot of young people have been mobilised and they have gone back to land and they haven’t regretted it.
“In the fight against corruption, I assure you that all those who have fraudulently enriched themselves when they were entrusted with public funds, we will eventually get them and deal with them. We are doing it, we will continue to do it and I assure you, we will not abuse your trust.
“I assure you that the programme mentioned here about the development of the Niger Delta will be taken even more seriously. I expect you to please cooperate and vote APC from top to the bottom.”
Others who spoke at the event assured the President of getting his winning figures from Delta State and the other parts of the Niger Delta region.
Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi, said: “Don’t sleep on that day because if you sleep, PDP will steal the slip and write results as they always do. You said you want to change Okowa; the only way to change Okowa is to go out that day to vote. Vote for Buhari, vote for Ogboru and don’t vote Okowa that way, APC will win.”
The leader of the Delta Mainstream APC, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, told reporters that the APC will win in Delta with a wide margin.
He said: “Our people are waiting for the elections to come so that we can reciprocate President Buhari’s performance in the state. I can confidently tell you he will score over 80 per cent of the total votes in Delta with this massive turnout in next month’s election. APC has taken over Delta.”
Minister of State for Petroleum Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who spoke at the palace of the Ovie of Uvwie, where all Urhobo monarchs received the President, reeled out the achievements of the administration in Delta State and other parts of the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who is also contesting the Delta South Senatorial District election, said: “Mr. President, Delta people have seen what you have done and they are ready to vote you in a second time.”
The Senator representing Delta Central Senatorial District, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, also assured President Buhari will sweep the election in Delta State.
APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole urged President Buhari to probe the $16 billion power project fund appropriated by the PDP administration and ensure that everyone involved in the mismanagement is punished.
He said: “Yesterday (Wednesday), I was watching the television, I saw PDP presidential candidate and a former Customs officer (Atiku); he was saying in the likely event that If Nigerians make the mistake of their life to vote for him (Atiku) as president, he is telling Nigerians whether they like it or not, even if he would die, that he will sell oil reserves of Delta, Akwa Ibom, Edo states and that he would auction all oil properties of Nigeria whether they (Nigerians) like it or not.
“If somebody puts you on notice that if you vote for him, that he is going to sell your family, will you agree? Will you vote for him? When Atiku was the vice president, I was the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress. When they wanted to sell Nigeria Airways, when we told him no, he (Atiku) said he doesn’t care. He just wanted to sell Nigeria Airways.”
In Edo State, Oshiomhole told his kinsmen to use their Permanent Voter Cards (PVC) to retire the PDP presidential candidate from politics.
The former Edo State governor urged the electorate to use their PVCs to stop Atiku’s plan to use the country’s resources to enrich his friends, adding that Nigerians would not allow Atiku to reopen the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the PDP.
He said Nigerians should ponder if Atiku was the fit and proper person to replace President Buhari.
Oshiomhole, who prayed for Atiku to be alive to see the country’s growth under President Buhari, cautioned Nigerians to be wary of those who destroyed “our yesterday and now wear new clothes in other to compromise our tomorrow.”
He insisted that the APC won the 2015 election for President Buhari in the state if the PDP had not colluded with INEC to cancel 120,000 votes. The forthcoming elections will be decided by one-man-one vote because the PDP can no longer use the military to intimidate them, Oshiomhole told his audience.
Oshiomhole said the real revolution of President Buhari had shown that farmers now get value for money and the country is moving towards food security.
He said: “Those battles we fought before where PDP used the military to arrest our youth leaders and plant guns in the hotel rooms of APC leaders. In these coming elections, they will not be able to do so. In 2015, they deployed soldiers to my village to intimidate me but this time, they will not be able to do so.
“Our campaign for one man one vote will prevail. Even with those preventive measures the PDP deploye,d we still won 45percent for Mr. President after PDP, in collision with INEC to ensure 120,000 votes were deleted. If those votes were not deleted, we would have delivered Buhari.”
President Buhari, who thanked Edo people for waiting for him for over six hours, assured them that he had made progress in his electoral promises on security, economy and corruption.
He said: “In the economy, we have empowered farmers. The CBN gave soft loans to farmers and we succeeded in food security. We are saving hundred of millions of dollars by growing our food. I congratulate Nigerians for that because they decided to go back to the land.
“On corruption, we are following the slow system where we present facts before the people. We are selling the recovered assets and putting the money into TSA. Sooner than later, I will direct the EFCC and ICPC to tell Nigerians what we have recovered and what we intend to do with them. Vote for all APC candidates. Give us the power to control the state Assembly, National Assembly and the Presidency.”
Ameachi described as “unfortunate” that former President Goodluck Jonathan could not give the Niger Delta water to drink.
He said Edo had benefited from the railway projects because several stations were built in many Edo villages where the Itakpa-Warri railway passes through.
According to him, nobody has the right to steal Nigeria’s money to become rich. He urged the people to stop the PDP from returning to power.
Governor Godwin Obaseki alleged that the former PDP administration demanded for $20 million bribe to give a letter to access money to build the Azura Power Project.
Obaseki promised to deliver one million votes for President Buhari.
Some chieftains of the PDP announced their defections to the APC.