Former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, says he will restructure and restore the economy of the country if elected as the president of the country come 2023.
Abubakar, a presidential aspirant on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform, made the pledge, while addressing the party delegates and Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa on Friday at Government House, Asaba.
He outlined other areas he would focus attention on if given the opportunity to preside over the affairs of the nation to include unity of the country, insecurity, economy and education.
He stressed that the country was at a crossroad and needed an experienced hand to navigate through.
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Abubakar thanked delegates from Delta for the support given to him at the Port Harcourt convention in 2019 and appealed to them to vote for him in the PDP presidential convention billed for May 28 and May 29, in Abuja.
He said the issue of power rotation was enshrined in the party’s constitution, pointing out that what the PDP needed at this time was to grab the power before entrenching rotation.
“We want to thank you very much indeed particularly for the support that we received from Delta in the last primaries that took place in Port Harcourt.
“We cherished that support and we value that support and we shall not forget that support.
“Having said that, we have come to another season of elections in the country but this season is unique because Nigeria has never found itself in this type of situation facing numerous challenges.
“That was why when l declared to run for the presidential election this time around, l identified five key areas that this country requires immediate attention.
“First of all, l identified the lack of unity in our country today,” he said.
According to Abubakar, government at all levels must identify with our diversity, and respect our diversity but this have been neglected over time.
“And as a result of that, we have a very divided country and l said l will tackle this disunity on the first day of my presidency if elected”.
He called on delegates to put competence and credibility above money in casting their votes for aspirants to fly the flag of the party.
On his part, Okowa, affirmed that Abubakar had the experience to take the country out of the challenges bedevilling the nation.
He said that the issue of restructuring was germane to the people of the Niger Delta region in the choice of who should rule the country in 2023.
He said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was one way to enhance a credible election and charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that transparency was not compromised.
Okowa said delegates from the state would scrutinize the presidential aspirants and throw their weight behind the most credible at the forthcoming party’s primaries.
“We have a lot of insecurity at the moment. Issues concerning education has been identified but very importantly to us in the South South geopolitical zone, is the issue of restructuring.
“Having talked about these key issues, we have noted your speech and we believe that you are a man we can trust because the issues that you have raised are issues that concern us and concern this nation.
“And, we believe that we require a lot of experience to be able to deal with these issues without learning on the ropes,” he said.
According to him, at the time decisions would be made by the people of Delta, a lot of these issues would be examined.
“We would examine all aspirants who will present themselves at the convention on the 28 of this month and Delta will always vote for the person that has a great capacity.
“But we are convinced that you are and you were in a team that was able to find solutions at the time such things happened in the past.
“I believe that that will score you very high in our minds at the time that we are taking decisions,” the governor added.
Also speaking, a member of the Atiku Support Organisation (ASO), Sen. Dino Melaye described Abubakar as a unifier and a servant leader that had cure for all the problems in the country.
The PDP State Chairman, Chief Kingsley Esiso, said delegates would support aspirants with proven integrity.(NAN)