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Tag: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

  • Kashamu insists he’s authentic PDP governorship candidate

    Senator Buruji Kashamu representing Ogun East Senatorial district at the National Assembly on Monday insisted that he is the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun state and urged the National Chairman of the party, Uche Srcondus, not to elevate party supremacy above the judiciary.
    Kashamu said he and his running mate, Dr. Reuben Abati, are the candidate of the people for the governorship polls in Ogun State according to the  expressed wishes of the people, which, he addd, was equally affirmed by the courts.
    The Senator who spoke while addressing thousands of supporters in Ijebu – Igbo, the Headquarters of Ijebu North Local Government Area of the state, shortly after he was unveiled
    by the Dayo Bayo – led arm of the Ogun State PDP, as the governorship candidate in the state,  admitted that the party is supreme, but said “it is not superior to the judiciary.”
    According to him, nobody should   continue to act in contempt of the teeming members, leaders, elders of the party and the Courts in the name of “Party Supremacy.
    The Senator who also extended hands of fellowship to every member of the party – both the agreeable and disagreeable ones, assured of his  readiness, ability and willingness to work with everyone in the overall interest of PDP.

    Read Also: PDP alleges freezing of Peter Obi’s accounts

    He said: “Politics is like a game of chess; full of intrigues, ups and downs. But, the mammoth crowd you have seen here says it all. We would not be distracted. We are focused on our Mission of Taking Ogun State to Greater Heights.
    “I am a grassroots politician; a proud Ijebu man and a good citizen of Ogun State who is loved by his people.
    “By the grace of the Almighty Allah, I am an entrepreneur; an employer of labour with several years of experience in business and human resources management.
    ” In 2015, when I contested to represent the good people of Ogun East Senatorial District, I promised selfless representation. That is what I have given.
    “And there is no better proof than the over 90 projects that we have attracted to various parts of Ogun East Senatorial District. It is the first of its kind. No one has that record in our Senatorial District.
    “As you are aware, I have also touched many lives and communities outside Ogun East and Ogun State through the Omoilu Foundation.
    “This aspiration affords me yet another opportunity to continue to touch lives in diverse ways and on a bigger plane.
    “Since government is a continuum, I believe we would continue from where the current government stops, and together, we would take our dear Ogun State to Greater Heights.
    “As presented by my running mate, Dr. Reuben Abati, we have a blueprint that outlines our programmes and policies if you vote us as your Governor and Deputy Governor on the 2nd of March, 2019. Will you vote for us?
    “This is your sure ticket for Taking Ogun State to Greater Heights. The Engr. Adebayo Dayo-led Ogun State Exco is the ONLY authentic and legally recognized PDP structure in the state. The people have spoken; the Courts have affirmed it and INEC has complied.
    ” Truly, the party is supreme. But, it is not superior to the judiciary. People cannot continue to act in contempt of the teeming members, leaders and elders of the Party and the Courts – all in the name of “Party Supremacy.
    “At some point, like in saner climes, the judiciary must intervene and rein in those acting in utter disregard of our Party’s Constitution and the laws of the land. That is what has happened in our case.
    “The national leadership of our Party supervised and approved the congresses that produced the Engr. Adebayo Dayo-led State Exco in 2016.
    “There have been several court judgments that affirmed the validity of the State Exco under the leadership of Engr. Adebayo Dayo.
     “In the build up to the 2019 general election, congresses were conducted by the Dayo-led State Exco in line with Section 25 (1) of the PDP Constitution (as amended in 2017) which states that, ‘There shall be a State Party Congress which shall consist of: (a) The State Chairman who shall be the Chairman. Section 25 (2c) states further, ‘The functions of the State Congress shall be to: (c) Elect governorship candidates of the Party.
    “That is all we have done. So, if anyone decides to go and collect a flag in an office in Abuja, it does not bother us. They say they are the candidates of the Party.
    “We say we are the candidates of the people and the Rule of Law. As the Governorship Candidate of the PDP in Ogun State, I extend my hands of fellowship to all and sundry. I am ready, able and willing to work with everyone in the overall interest of our Party.
    “My dear good people of Ogun State, I am your son, your servant and a true representative of the people. I am willing, ready and able to serve you. I urge to elect me, Alaanu Mekunnu as your Governor.  Mine will be a people-oriented government.”

  • PDP presents Ogun governorship flag to Adebutu

    The national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Friday in Abuja presented Mr. Ladi Adebutu with the symbolic party flag, to enable him contest the Ogun State governorship election on the platform of the PDP.

    The party leadership also presented similar flags to Mr. Jimi Agbaje to fly the PDP governorship flag in Lagos State, while Mr. Seyi Makinde was also presented with the flag for the Oyo State governorship contest.

    While presenting the flags to the candidates, the national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus said the party had submitted Adebutu’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as required by law.

    Secondus declared Adebutu as the party’s authentic governorship candidate for Ogun State.

    Meanwhile, INEC had earlier recognised Senator Buruji Kashamu as the PDP governorship candidate based on the ruling by a Federal High Court.

    The party chairman described the present administration as a government of cabals, saying Nigerians will reject them in 2019, because they don’t even know who their President is.

    “Nigerians are dying in their numbers, yet the emperors of APC will be talking about integrity even more people are hungry. Nigerians will pass their judgment in 2019, you can no longer deceive Nigerians”, the chairman said.

    He restated the call on INEC and the security agencies to be neutral during the 2019 elections, saying Nigerians are wiser now than before.

    Secondus said, “This is a President that does not communicate, he only speaks when he goes outside the country. Nigerians are confused and cannot understand him and yet he said he’s coming back; to do what?

    “You are not talking to Nigerians, you can’t persuade them, you can’t order the security agencies, you can’t order INEC. The president should be bold to call the INEC chairman and security agencies to order”

    He charged President Buhari to participate in the upcoming presidential debate and not to do so by proxy.

  • 2019: It won’t be winner takes all, Atiku promises GNU

    The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has declared that it won’t be a winner takes all affairs if he emerges victorious in the 2019 presidential election.

    Atiku said the PDP would run an all-inclusive government with the institution of a Government of National Unity (GNU), which according to him, will be drawn from membership of other political parties in the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP).

    Speaking Friday at a meeting with leaders of about 45 political parties that adopted him as sole candidate, Atiku said there will be no room for any cabal to operate under a government of national unity.

    Atiku said, “I want to commit myself to the continuation of the doctrine of government of national unity.

    “We believe as a political party in a government of national unity and there must be stability before you can do anything- implement your economic programme and implement your healthcare programme.

    “Right from the beginning, I have been a member of the PDP and I know we have always believed in a government of national unity. It takes a long time for a country as diverse as Nigeria to be united and stable even before we start talking about which ethnic group we come from or which religion we practice.

    “I want to assure you that as long as we are having a government of national unity, there will not be a cabal”

    He encouraged parties in the coalition to make public their decision to adopt him as sole candidate for the benefit of Nigerian voters.

    Also speaking at the meeting, President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said since his election in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated a lack of capacity to find solution to the question of hunger and poverty ravaging the country.

    Saraki called on the parties in coalition to step up their campaign to ensure victory for Atiku.

    Saraki said, “The message everywhere we go is that this country must move forward and we have agreed that the existing President must give way because he is not leading us in the right direction.

    “We have met with Nigerians all over the country, the old, the not-too-old and the message is that the President cannot lead us the right way.

    “We must be part of the process to usher in a new direction. The most important thing is that we want a change, a new direction. We want a man that understands the issues.

    “We have been to three zones and there is a common message and that message is one of insecurity and hunger. Everywhere in this country, hunger and poverty are the issues.

    “So the challenge before us is how to bring back prosperity to this country. Unfortunately, our President today cannot do it. He cannot do it because he does not have the ability to do so.

    “Government alone cannot bring prosperity to this country because close to 80 percent of government revenue goes into personnel cost and servicing of debts. The remaining percentage cannot bring about development.

    “To bring development to this country today, you need an environment that encourages people to bring in investments. Nigerians are even afraid to bring their monies out and so they need somebody that they have the confidence will bring about the right environment for their business.

    “At the moment, the verdict is that this government and this President do not give that confidence and without that investment, we are going nowhere”.

    The chairman of the Coalition of United Political Parties, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said 15 other parties have indicated interest in joining the 25 parties that have adopted Atiku as sole presidential candidate.

    According to him, consultations were still ongoing to ensure that other parties in the coalition officially write to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw their presidential candidates.

    Oyinlola, who chairs the CUPP, is expected to coordinate events leading to the formalisation of the adoption of Atiku as consensus candidate and the official withdrawal of presidential candidates of other parties in the coalition.

     

     

  • 2019: We are not part of Atiku’s endorsement – SDP

    The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has distanced itself from Wednesday’s endorsement of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar by Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) as consensus candidate for 2019 presidential election.

    SDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Mohammed Alfa who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja, said the party already has a candidate, Mr Donald Duke whose name had been submitted to INEC for the 2019 election.

    Alfa said that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party would meet next week to take a position on the issue.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), on Wednesday announced that it had endorsed Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the 2019 presidential election.

    Mr Ikenga Ugochinyere, spokesman of the group who announced the endorsement, said Atiku is the coalition’s consensus candidate.

    The SDP publicity secretary however said that the attention of the party had been drawn to the statement issued on the endorsement.

    “We want to enjoin the general public, SDP faithful, especially all our candidates to carry on with their campaigns effectively, irrespective of the development.

    “We assure you that the SDP National Working Committee (NWC) will meet and issue appropriate statement on the matter next week.

    The SDP is one of the 39 opposition parties that formed CUPP in July 2018 with the aim of producing a presidential candidate that can defeat the ruling party All Progressive Congress (APC) in the 2019 election with the aim of forming a government of national unity.

  • 2019: CUPP adopt Atiku as sole presidential candidate

    The Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) has adopted the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, as sole presidential candidate for the February 16, 2019 presidential election.
    The CUPP, which is made up of over 40 opposition parties, yesterday announced the decision shortly after a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, a statement by the Coalition spokesman, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere said.
    The meeting, which was said to have been attended by over 41 political parties, arrived at Atiku’s choice after it was noted that the former Vice President, towered high on the criteria used by the opposition in arriving at the decision.
    The Coalition said it picked Atiku as consensus candidate based on national acceptability, financial capacity, spread of his political party, leadership capacity, international acceptability, experience, capacity to rebuild the economy, ability to secure the country and to unite Nigerians among other factors.
    The Coalition said it would be meeting with Atiku before the week runs out, with the view to collapsing into a single presidential campaign.
    Meanwhile, parties have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, noting that the 30 days time window for the President’s assent will expire on Friday.
    Addressing newsmen on the matter, Ugochinyere said the refusal by the President to sign the bill might deny the nation free, fair and credible elections in 2019.

    Read Also: Atiku seeks emergency on military funding

    The spokesman said, “Today we are 72 days away from the opening of the ballot for the 2019 general elections and in less than 72 hours, the 30 days’ time limit allowed by law for the President to assent to the Bill will elapse.
    “We have credible intelligence that the design of the grand plot to derail the 2019 general elections has been completed and the implementation has accordingly commenced.
    “It is more worrisome that the government toeing this path of dishonour is a government that won an open election where the people were allowed to cast their votes freely and their votes were allowed to count.
    “It is now about twenty eight days since the National Assembly forwarded to the President and for the fourth time, necessary amendments to our Electoral Act. The President has not signed the amendment.
    “We are also sad to say this to you; that there is intelligence that the President has agreed with his kitchen cabinet not to sign the amendment into law.
    “We have been informed that after several undue delays, the President is set to communicate the National Assembly anytime from today that he would not be able to sign the amendment due to the existence of Article 2 of the ECOWAS Protocol on democracy and good governance”.
    The said Article 2 prohibits member countries from making Electoral Act amendments less than six months to elections unless there is consent of the political parties involved in the election.

  • A’Ibom 2019: Udom, PDP move to strengthen support base 

    Amid the growing political tension in Akwa Ibom state, arising from the lingering battle between the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state and the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) over who controls the state, Governor Udom Emmanuel and the PDP have stepped up moves to strengthen their support base and galvanize their people with the ongoing peace-building process in the party.

    Akwa Ibom state has been in the “eye of political storm” in recent weeks following the crisis in the state House of Assembly which led to a face-off between the state government and the police authority and led to heated altercations between the PDP and APC in the state.

    Read Also:Akwa Ibom: Udom’s service to God and humanity

    Apparently to aid this galvanization process and also help in dousing the palpable apprehension in the state, the PDP Integration and Harmonisation Committee, in a statement Wednesday, December 5 2018, announced the commencement of the second phase of interactions with aggrieved stakeholders and other members of the party who have concerns over diverse issues in the party, which include what they refer to as “poor reward mechanism”.

    According to the statement in Uyo the state capital, signed by the Committee secretary, Barrister Goddy Umoh, who is also the legal adviser to the party in the state, this second phase will “entertain complaints from individuals who have sent private petitions to the Committee through its dedicated phone numbers, email and website.”

    The Committee, headed by His Excellency, Engineer Patrick Ekpotu, former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom state, was inaugurated by Governor Udom Emmanuel, in October and charged with the responsibility of bringing together every aggrieved parties in the recently concluded primary election exercise of the PDP in the state, with the aim of addressing their grouses, in order to present a united front in the coming 2019 governorship election.

    Barrister Umoh revealed that the “Integration and Harmonisation Committee started interactions with stakeholders of the first sets of local government areas on October 26. In that first phase the Committee hosted and received complaints from people from eight local government areas, which included, Ikono, Uyo, Ikot Ekpene, Itu, Nsot Ibom, Nsit Atai, Mkpat Enin and  Urue Offong/ Oruko.”

    Different interests within the party in the local government areas that have met with the committee were said to have unburdened their grievances to the committee. Issues ranging from people who felt shortchanged by the system at the party primaries after working hard for the party or communities/wards that raised concerns over seeming neglect by successive governments in the state in the areas of either projects or political appointments were presented to the committee.

    The committee, working closely with the governor on the Integration and Harmonisation process has assured that a “mechanism is in place with the full backing of the governor to address these concerns in order to assuage the apprehension of the people, because the spirit of setting up the committee is not only to help our party put its house in order, in this peculiar challenging period in the state,  but essentially to heal wounds and encourage inclusiveness by integrating every interest for peace, progress and unity of our dear state.

    “So far the response by the people has been very impressive. As should be expected in this kind of setting, we have been having explosive but very frank sessions with participants from different local government areas, as people are encouraged by the committee to air their views with sincere openness, aimed at a dispassionate resolution. The beautiful aspect of our often heated sessions is that sometimes people came with palpable apprehension, but often would live with smiles and genuine convivial embrace and handshake.”

    Umoh disclosed that after attending to these individual complainants, the Committee, would then resume its interactions with the remaining local government as according the statement, “the objective is to achieve equity, fairness and justice in the party, which will ultimately lead to peace and harmony in the PDP family, and essentially more electoral success by the party in the state.”

  • 2019 is election between thieves, trust worthy people – El-Rufai

    …says PDP has nothing to offer Nigeria

     

    As the 69 members Campaign Council of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna state was launched on Tuesday, Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai has said that, the 2019 general election is a poll between thieves and trust worthy people.

    This was as he said that, the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has nothing to offer Nigeria. Saying that, their ideology is nothing but looting.

    El-Rufai who delivered keynote address at the launching of the campaign council at Murtala Mohammed Square, Kaduna described the Monday’s flag-off of PDP campaign in Sokoto as a gang-up of ‘thieves’, who rented crowd from foreign country.

    According to El-Rufai, “The 2019 general election is a poll between trust worthy people and thieves, between patriotic leaders and those who went to Abuja to loot our treasury. So, we have to stand up and show them that, Kaduna is not a state that will allow them cheat the people and the masses.

    “What we have done in Kaduna state in the last three years has shown that, APC as a party is the one that loves the masses and assists the masses, not party that will take public fund and share among the rich. That is why we want you people to go out and tell the people to vote President Muhammadu Buhari again.

    ”Thieves have ganged-up against President Muhammadu Buhari. Yesterday they were in Sokoto, and they rented crowd from Niger Republic just to show people that they have supporters, because Sokoto people refused to come out. So, when it is time to launch President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign in Kaduna, people should come for the whole world to see that, it not Niger Republic people that are disguising as Nigerians.

    “We must show that we are in supoort of President Muhammadu Buhari, and when is time to cast our votes, we should vote for President Muhammadu Buhari and all the APC candidates. In Kaduna, we will support APC from top to bottom.

    “With the hard work of our members and the votes of our people, APC won a sterling victory in 2015. The government that we produced has anchored its agenda on putting people first. The APC in Kaduna has since May 2015 focused on running an equal opportunity government. We have tried to empower our people by anchoring our programmes on putting people first. We are making life better and reordering the priority of government to focus on human capital development. At the centre of this is education and health.

    “What we have done in the last three years is fixing the rot left behind by the 16 years of PDP’s misrule and neglect. But there is a lot more to do, to reset the country on the path of stability and posterity.

    Read Also: 2019: My re-election almost a done deal – El-Rufai

    “The task in 2019 is to continue to work towards the upliftment of our people. We cannot allow the people whose ideology is looting to return to power. The PDP has nothing to offer the people of Kaduna state and they have nothing to offer the rest of Nigeria. Over 16 years, they left most of our 4,250 primary schools in terribly bad conditions; many did not have toilets, roofs, windows or doors. They left schools where more than half of the pupils had no desk or chairs. In some schools, number of children sitting on the floor was more than 90 per cent.

    “The PDP left terribly bad health indices with high maternal and infant mortality and low investment on health. Many primary health centres were left as just buildings without staff and equipment. We are correcting all these mess. We are tackling fraud and waste. We have rescued all our local government councils from bankruptcy. When we came in, eight out of our 23 local government could not pay salaries. Today, each and everyone of them came pay salaries and have at least 50 million left every month.” He said.

    The Governor who is the chairman of the campaign council himself however tasked the members to get cracking and ensure victory for the party in all the position from top to bottom.

    “The campaign council must ensure that we get every member of our supporters collect their voter’s card by the end of December. We must run a true grassroot campaign and ensure that our supporters come out to vote on election day. The campaign council must get to work immediately and bring out your workplan and budget in one week.

    Other members of the campaign council include; Minister of Finance, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, NPA MD, Hadiza Bala Usman, Deputy Governor, Architect Barnabas Yusuf Bala, Deputy Governorship Candidate, Hadiza Balarabe, Senatorial Candidates, Uba Sani and Suleiman Abdul Kwari, Jimi Lawal, APC Chairman, Emmanuel Jekada and Alhaji Umar Gana among others.

    The campaign council was inaugurated by the party’s Deputy National Chairman (North), Alhaji Lawal Shuaibu.

  • Promises galore as PDP campaign berths in Sokoto

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign Monday berthed in Sokoto with promises to rescue the country from the misrule of the All Progressives Congress.

    Addressing a large crowd of party faithful and supporters, party leaders took turns to harangue the audience with what they described as the many failures of the APC.

    The PDP national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus said that President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC have failed the people woefully.

    According to him, the PDP has chosen a credible and experienced presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abuabakar and his running mate, Peter Obi to lead the rescue mission.

    Secondus, who is also the chairman of the party’s Presidential Campaign Council, said the performance records of Atiku and his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi give the reassurance that Nigeria will be in good hands from 2019.

    “Atiku has what it takes to turn the economy around, create jobs for our teeming youths and unite the country”, Secondus said, adding that Nigerians have turned their back on President Buhari and the APC.

    The PDP chair cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies not to undermine the country by attempting to rig the elections.

    Also speaking at the rally, former President Goodluck Jonathan said Atiku and Obi would show Nigeria the way forward and urged the people of the Northwest zone to join the PDP in showing the way forward.
    Jonathan said, “From 1999 till date, we have seen four Presidents, from Obasanjo, to Umaru Musa Yar ‘Adua, to myself and the current President (Buhari).
    “You have seen how the various Presidents and the various parties have worked, and one thing is very clear, PDP is still the number one party
    “There is something that all of us see as human beings, everybody, everyday must eat, and if you cannot eat well, then you are not happy. PDP is the only party that can make sure that all of us eat very well in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening
    “Let us not make mistakes, those of us who are adults, old enough to vote, if we vote wrongly, our children and grand children will not forgive us.

    Read Also: 2019: Panic in PDP over Wike’s resignation

    “Today, our country has a lot of challenges and we have looked at all the presidential candidates, all of them are good people, we have known them, credible people, but among all, we have seen that it’s only Atiku that can deliver
    “If you have a football match, you go with your first eleven, you don’t manage. If you have a wrestling or boxing tournament, you go with your best. You don’t manage.
    “Atiku is experienced enough, he has demonstrated clearly in his personal life and his business life that he has the capacity to bring this country to one, and make sure that our economy grow so that all of us will have something to eat”.

    The President of the Senate, and Director General of the Campaign, Dr. Bukola Saraki urged the people of the Northwest to lead the way in the mission to rescue the country.

    Declaring the Northwest as a PDP zone, Saraki bemoaned the deteriorating socio economic situation in the country, saying, “There is no security, there is no food, there is hunger.
    “Atiku is the man that can fight insecurity, hunger and unite Nigerians. It is about food and security. We will vote Atiku. He understands it, he knows how to create jobs. He knows how to unite Nigerians. We have tried Buhari and he has failed”.

    Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara said Nigeria should be grateful for democracy that provides them the opportunity to make changes when things are not going well.

    Dogara said that he and some other Nigerians fought for change in 2015 but have since realised that the change was not forthcoming, hence the decision by himself and others to dump the APC for the PDP.

    “Democracy always offers us the opportunity to correct ourselves. We had speeches dealing with our convictions in 2015 when some of us left PDP to say we wanted to associate with change.
    “So we have a wonderful opportunity today to revisit those issues of 2015. We will be deceiving you to say that this election is between Atiku Abubakar and President Muhammadu Buhari.
    “The election is not between them. The election is about you, women, young people and every Nigerian citizen who is suffering untold hardship today on account of lack of good leadership.
    “So we want to review a lot of things. For instance, is your life better now than in 2015. Is security better now than it was in 2015. Are we more united as Nigerians than we were in 2015.
    These are the things that are on the ballot paper. It is not a contest between Atiku and Buhari rather it is between APC and all Nigerians”, Dogara said.

    The highpoints of the rally was the presentation of the party flags to the presidential candidate and his running mate. Flag was also presented to the Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal who is the PDP governorship candidate.

    Other party chieftains that addressed the rally were former Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwakwaso; former Jigawa Governor, Sule Lamido; former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi; former Special Duties Minister, Taminu Turaki; and former Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

    Atiku, who also addressed the gathering, spoke in Hausa.

  • Atiku calls for national mourning, emergency on military funding

    The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abukakar, has called for national mourning over the reported killing by bandits of about 50 policemen in Zamfara State at the weekend.

    A statement Monday by Atiku’s media office, conveyed his regrets and expressed pain to see those who have dedicated their lives to securing the country being senselessly cut down in their prime.
    “Coming so soon after the heavy losses sustained by the Nigerian Army at the hands of Boko Haram in Metele, Borno State, this new casualty figure is a red flag that calls for immediate and decisive action on the part of the leadership of Nigeria.
    “As such, Atiku Abukakar calls for a state of emergency to be declared not in Borno or Zamfara, but in financing the military and security services”, the statement said.
    The PDP presidential candidate called for an immediate allocation of at least $1 billion to go towards arming and training the military, police and other security agencies as well as providing improved service conditions for the officers and men at the frontlines of the war on terror and criminality.
    He also called for a comprehensive insurance programme for all officers and men of the military and security services such that if they are injured and killed in service, their families would receive sums equal to 10 years salary and allowances.

    Read Also: Anxiety as ex-militant leaders regroup for Atiku

    According to him, the emergency on security funding should allow families of soldiers and policemen killed in service to be allowed to remain in their official quarters for as long as it’s reasonably possible for them to get alternative accommodation and that a special agency be set up to help them in that process.
    The former Vice President also called for a comprehensive probe into the disbursements of the $1 billion special security budget that was withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account by the current administration in January of 2018 for the procurement of military hardware.
    He noted that the nation is not getting value for money as there has not been a commensurate improvement in the weaponry and conditions of service of troops since that withdrawal was made.
    Atiku called for a seven-day period of national mourning, for flags to be flown at half mast and for national awards to be given to fallen operatives, with full compliments of heroes funerals.
    “It is the least we can do for those who gave their lives that we might have ours. No more must we continue to read of the deaths of our heroes.
    “Serving Nigeria must be a thing of sacrifice and pride, not a suicide mission. If we must send men and women to protect us, we must protect them by giving them the very best training and weaponry money can buy”, the statement added.

     

  • ‘Igbo not worried about Atiku’s six-year plan’

    A former member of the House of Representatives and a Chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Greg Egu, has described as unfounded and baseless report that there is anxiety in the Southeast over the six years action plan of the PDP Presidential candidate,  Atiku Abubakar.
    Egu in a statement made available to The Nation, said that the Igbo are not worried about Atiku’s plan but are concerned with enthroning a leadership that will restore their pride of place in Nigeria.
    According to the statement,  “Nothing can be more fallacious than this. In the first place, the issue of whether Atiku Abubakar will stay beyond 2023 is not the immediate concern of the people of the zone. Their focus at the moment is the emergence ofAtilu as the next President of Nigeria come May 29, in fulfillment of their quest for a leadership that will fully restore their pride of place in Nigeria’s corporate landscape”.

    Read Also: Atiku goes to America

    It added that, “Of course, the zone has its expectations, fears and aspirations but these are not subject to jaundiced speculations. The support of the Southeast and its people for Atiku is total and unconditional but they have absolute confidence that he will do nothing to hurt them politically”.
    The statement continued that,  “perhaps more important, the people of the Southeast are knowledgeable and sophisticated enough to understand that the universal norm today is strategic economic planning that may transcend tenure limits since government is a continuum. In any case, that Atiku plan stretches into 2025 or so can only be meaningfully interpreted to mean that it is another way of saying the next administration after him, no matter who or which zone takes over, will continue from where he stops. Can there be any better offer or optimism for a country than that?
    “I call on our brethren in the Southeast to ignore these types of distractions and remain focused in partnering with the rest of our compatriots across the country in the collective quest for a new and purposeful administration that our national vision for total political and economic emancipation