ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, says the party presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is seeking to preside over Nigeria’s affairs in order to build a Nigeria that works for all.
Okowa stated this while addressing a crowd of party supporters at the party’s Presidential Campaign Rally, in Lagos on Monday.
The Governor told party supporters that the South-South was fully prepared to deliver its votes to the PDP, a party it has remained committed to since formation.
Governor Okowa noted that when the All Progressives Congress (APC) tricked Nigerians into thinking they could do better in 2015, adding that the reality of the APC unpreparedness for office has led to the worsening state of security and the collapse of the economy we are all suffering from today.
He said: “We have a presidential candidate that is accepted in all the zones of the country and the reason why he is accepted because he is the only one that has experience.
“We want a Nigeria that works for everybody, in Lagos state, we want a Lagos that works for everybody not only for the rich but also for the poor, because Lagos state is for all and therefore the resources of Lagos state must be used to uplift our youths and create jobs for them, that is the Lagos State that we want.
“We do not want a Lagos state where the rich will become richer and the poor poorer. This Nigeria that we see today is not the Nigeria that we want, so I want to urge you all go out and campaign for Atiku Abubakar because he will restore the lost glory of this country.”
Similarly, the National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, said the party deserves the votes of the people of Lagos because the party provided purposeful leadership at the national level while it was in power.
Ayu said: “PDP worked for us, between 1999-2015, some people said they want change, we have seen the change that they brought, but today the people are wiser, so from door to door, home to home, Market to Market, go and campaign for the PDP so that with Atiku Abubakar as President, in 2023 , it will be well for Nigeria and the youths.
“We are going to liberate Lagos. We shall rescue Lagos from the hands of people who don’t want progress for Lagos people and for Nigerians. Liberating Lagos is like liberating Nigeria because Logos in an important part of Nigeria.
“Lagos is the biggest city in the country with a population of about 25million people which is more than most African countries and other countries in the world.
“It is a very rich state, a state that there should be no poverty. In 1993, our leader Chief MKO Abiola said farewell to poverty was going to begin in Lagos.
“We have brough you hope, we have brought you a man who is experienced, who knows lagos, who knows Nigerians, who is leading the crusade to rescue Lagos, end poverty, create jobs and make sure that you are not over tasked. With a president from the PDP, we shall make sure that it will be better for all of us.”
In his remarks also, the Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council who is also the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, promised that with the PDP in power at the national and sun-national levels come 2023, Lagos will be restored to its lost glory where factories will return to production and provide jobs for our teeming youths.
He said: “Let me tell you something that you have forgotten, in those days whenever you need a job, whenever you need somebody you can sit by the roadside and roast and bole and egba and be able to pay house rent, it was only in Lagos State.
“The economy of Lagos was more buoyant than the economy of so many West African countries put together. But today if you enter old Oregun, Ilepeju, do we still have those companies again? No.
“In those days of PDP from 1999 once you enter Lagos you will see trains all over Lagos working, That showed that the economy was moving, am telling Lagosians, Lagos is where money is made, Abuja is where money is spent, south-south is where money is produced.“
He further said: “Under PDP we will restore the economy of Nigeria. all those factories that have left Lagos will come back. Atiku Abubakar’s administration the economy of Lagos will bounce back everything will come back to life.
“You can imagine the situation we are having right now, it takes only one route to come to Lagos Island, but it was not like that. We want to promise you that we are here in terms of the economy one you settle the economy of Lagos you settle two-thirds per cent the economy of Nigeria.”