From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, aides of governors on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on student affairs have vowed to mobilise over 20 million students for the party’s candidate, Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
The forum of aides said they were working in partnership with various student bodies across the country’s tertiary education institutions to realise the objective.
In a communiqué issued at the end of its maiden meeting in Asaba, Delta State, convener of the group codenamed ‘Atiku/Okowa Students Movement,’ Jerry Ehiwarior decried the spate of insecurity in Nigeria.
Ehiwarior who is the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Okowa on Students Affairs lamented that killings and kidnapping have particularly escalated in higher institutions of learning in the country.
“We condemn the security challenges and poor security networks across the country which has resulted in wanton killings and kidnapping, particularly in our campuses and schools in the country which, no doubt, has made our institutions of learning unsafe just as it has rendered education unattractive
“We also condemn the unabated high rise of exchange rates in the country which is as a result of the poor management of the nation’s economy by the present All Progressive Congress (APC)-led administration.
“This mismanagement, no doubt, has caused total hardship for our beloved students in the diaspora, leading to the discontinuation of their studies in most cases.
“We, therefore, state that this is a passionate appeal and clarion call on the entire Nigeria students to join forces in the support for Atiku and Senator Ifeanyi Okowa for President and Vice President in a bid to rescue Nigeria and restore her lost glory.
“We, therefore, use this medium to signal the beginning of mass mobilisation of the entire Nigerian students across the federation for this historic rescue mission anchored on Atiku/Okowa project, 2023,” he stated.