•He’s not interested in vendetta against Wike -PDP
From Fred Itua, Abuja and Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has declared that he is not desperate for power, but running to change the sorry state of the country for the better.
He spoke in Abuja when the Council of National Students Presidents of Nigeria (CNSPN), made up of National Association of University Students (NAUS), Postgraduate Students Association of Nigeria (PSAN), National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), and National Association of Colleges of Agriculture Students (NACAS), endorsed him as their sole presidential candidate.
He lauded President Muhamamdu Buhari for committing to a free, fair and credible election.
“I am not desperate for office; I am running to change things. Under my watch, so many things will change. I’ve made a covenant with the Nigerian people. We need to appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari for insisting elections must be free and fair. We need to appreciate that move.”
The former vice president who was represented by former Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, tasked Nigerians to endure the pains occasioned by the new naira redesigned policy.
He said whatever pains citizens were passing through because of the naira policy was not comparable to the pains of allowing fraudsters to take over the country. “ Nigerians should bear the pains as part of the sacrifice we must make to make Nigeria. Nobody will free us if we don’t free ourselves,” he said.
Obaji Uchenna Marshal, National president, NAUS and Chairman, CNSPN said more than 42.5 million students’ members, both at home and in the Diaspora, were with Atiku.
“The CNSPN has taken her time to follow all the frontline candidates closely, gone through their policy working documents (Manifestos) and after keen scrutiny, the CNSPN have come to the conclusion that the manifesto of the PDP, which carries the Atiku/Okowa tickets is the most reliable, realizable, the are only ones that provides answers to the Nigeria’s quests and above all, the most educationally friendly, the working document of the PDP is the only document that goes beyond making political promises to actually providing blue print on how to have these promises achieved,” he said.
Meanwhile, the PDP presidential campaign council has promised that Atiku was not interested in carrying out a vendetta against Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, if he wins Saturday’s election, despite his perceived anti-party activities.
Spokesman for the Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign council, Charles Aniagwu, at a press conference in Asaba, Delta State, said vendetta was not part of the manifesto of Atiku and his running mate, Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.
Aniagwu who doubles as Commissioner for Information in Delta State, said Atiku as a democrat knew from the onset that not everyone would support his aspiration and that he was more concerned with winning the election and implementing his economic recovery plan for the country.
He said if elected, Atiku and his vice would be busy on how to bring unity and prosperity to the country.
He, however, described Wike as a selfish politician for asking people of Rivers State not to vote for the PDP candidate.
“But let me assure him that Atiku is not contesting this election for vendetta, when he wins Atiku is a democrat and he knew that when he set out to contest this election, not everybody would agree with him, and Nyesom Wike is one of the very few that has not agreed with Atiku’s ambition. Atiku wants to bring unity, he wants to bring back the jobs, he wants to develop all parts of this country, including Rivers State. Atiku is interested in education that works for all, he is interested in bringing back security so that we can sleep with both eyes closed and dream dreams of positive development. Atiku is not contesting just because he wants to go about vendetta, Atiku wants to bring about development in Nigeria.
“So we want Wike to be rest assured that Atiku and Okowa are in this election to address the many challenges confronting our country.…Wike and those who may belong to his class of reasoning that vendetta is part of our agenda, what we have is how to recover Nigeria. So if he feels he has done so many things against the law, let him go and do the right thing.”
Aniagwu also faulted Wike for claiming that Atiku and PDP met with those who have no stake in Rivers State, insisting that the Rivers Governor has continued to lay land-mines to ensure that the PDP does not campaign in the state.
Aniagwu said Wike lacked democratic credentials by the way he was muscling those opposed to his political views, appealing to Nigerians not to make the mistake of voting for those who would curtail their freedom.