The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has described the 2019 Appropriation Bill presented before the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari as a “hopeless” document, warning Nigerians not to expect much from it.
Saraki spoke in his capacity as the Director General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council when the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar met civil society organisations (CSOs) in Abuja on Thursday.
The senate president said, “Yesterday (Wednesday), we all heard the 2019 budget. That is a budget that has no hope for anybody because if you look at the statistics and the figures there’s poverty, if you look at the figures based on revenues that are coming in, there is nothing left. So where’s the future?
“There must be an alternative and that is what we hope that by this evening speaking to our candidate and vice presidential candidate, not based on sentiments. We are not voting on sentiments, we are voting on what is the need for you.
“How is your life going to be better? Which party offers you a better future because we see you as those who are patriotic and committed . It’s not about what you’ll get today. It’s about the great country a lot of you expect to see.”
Saraki, a former Kwara governor, noted that President Muhammadu Buhari would fail to attend the presidential debate scheduled for January 19, 2019, stressing that a presidential candidate needed to be able to sell his ideas to the people he is seeking to lead.
According to him, “This is an interactive session. I’m not sure whether the other political parties will give you an opportunity like this to ask them any question. I’m told that one has debated and you already know the answer to that debate. On the second one, I’m very sure he’s not going to debate. So how do you assess somebody who is not ready to tell you what he’s going to do.
“Those days are gone, my good people. A country that leads the continent that is not ready to show example is not what we want for this continent. The whole world is going in a direction, if you’re seeking a position, you must come and tell people what you want to do. You must sit down and they will ask you questions and that is why we’re here.
“Today is your day, we will sit down and take questions. I hope at the end of the exercise you will stand up and say yes this is the team that will secure Nigeria, this is the team that will unite Nigeria , this is the team that will fight the poverty in town and bring a bright future.”
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