…Everybody will be carried along – Campaign Spokesperson
Despite the ill-feeling that the National Chairman of The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Sen. Iyorchia Ayu should step down before the campaign, the party has announced that it will kick-off its Presidential Campaign on Monday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The campaign kick-off will be hosted by the Gov. Udom Emmanuel who is also the Chairman of the Campaign Council.
The announcement was made by the Director General of Atiku Abubakar Campaign Council and Sokoto State governor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal on Tuesday in Abuja after inspecting the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Office located in Wuse 2.
Hon. Tamuwal said that the party and its candidate is ready to engage Nigerians and sell its manifesto to the people. He said that the campaign is going to be issue based and stressed that the party will not be distracted by mudslingers or issues that have no bearing with the welfare of the country.
“We are pleased to report to you and indeed Nigerians that the campaign is ready to move. By the grace of God, we are flagging off the campaign this coming Monday, the 10th of October 2023 at Uyo Akwa Ibom states. All arrangements have been made to have for a very successful flag off of the campaign”.
He described the Presidential Candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar as the most experienced of all the Presidential candidate who will not begin to learn on the job. He assured that Atiku will hit the ground running from the first day adding that the swift with which the party inaugurated its Presidential Campaign Council on the day campaign embrago was lifted showed that it is very prepared to confront the challenges facing the country from day one.
“Our campaign is going to be issue based. We’re going to be marketing our candidates based on the program that we brought out, which is generally solution based. Atiku is very well prepared to provide the required leadership for this country at this time. He has the experience in governance at the federal level, which I believe none of the rest of the candidates can match.
“This is not the time for Nigerians to go for trial and error. It’s time for Nigerians to give it to the person that has been tested and who has experience do a good job, who would from day one hit the ground running as we have done for the inauguration of campaign council the very day INEC lifted the ban on presidential election campaign on the 28th.
“Even that should confirm to Nigerians that this is the only party and indeed candidate that is prepared and ready to go”.
The campaign Director General asked Nigerians to throw their weight behind the party’s candidate just as he assured that the campaign will be violence free.
“We seek for the collaboration of Nigerians and the understanding as we go about the campaigns. As I said, ours is going to be based on issues and we seek to have violence free electoral process. In any case, our principal has been known to be a peaceful man and his personality speaks for him as a gentleman”.
On the disagreement within the governors following the continued stay of Ayu as the chairman of the party, Tambuwal said that the party will find a political solution around the crises.
“We’re not involved in a war of attrition. It is a political disagreement and we’re working to resolve all of those issues”.
Tambuwal dismissed the threat posed by the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi in the South East. He said that the party and its candidate was in the South East both during the campaign and last week during its consultative meeting. He claimed that Atiku is still the number Presidential Ticket contender in the South East.
“We’ve traveled throughout the nooks and crannies of this country, particularly, both around the states before the primaries campaign, and he was in the southeast. Only last week, we were in Enugu the political capital of that region for consultations. No states during the consultation will be left out. So, we’re very prepared to go into the southeast and we believe that we’re still the number one candidate for the southeast and we are going to consult everywhere in all of the six political zones in this country”.
You may wish to note that following the lingering crisis rocking the party, Governor Wike’s team pulled out of the Presidential campaign Council. Members of the group vowed not to participate in the campaign in whatever capacity except the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, leaves his position for a southerner.
Some members of the group include: Govs. Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Chief Bode George (Lagos), former Governors Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Ayo Fayose of Ekiti, Donald Duke of Cross River, Ibrahim Dakwambo of Gombe, and Jonah Jang of Plateau, and a former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.
Others are a former Information Minister, Jerry Gana, South-south Chairman of the PDP, Dan Orbih, a former deputy Speaker of the House Representative, Chibudom Nwuche among others.
Meanwhile, one of the Spokesperson of PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Ehiedu Aniagwu has said that efforts to reconcile aggrieved members of the party is yielding results.
Ehiedu who was a guest at AIT’s morning Show Kakaki on Tuesday hinted that the party’s reconciliation efforts were yielding results adding that there is hope of resolving the crisis in no distant time.
According to Aniagwu, the party’s Presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, his running mate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and other leaders of the party are working hard to resolve all contending issues to enable it present a common front ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“Atiku has said he is not going to leave anybody behind so what we are doing is to ensure that everybody comes on board.
“Not long ago we inaugurated the Campaign Council and that means that the train has left the station but we are very mindful of the fact that as we move along the track of the 2023 general elections, we will stop at different stations to pick both old and new passengers.
“One of the causes of agitation in the country is the inability of the APC to carry parts of the country along in the governance process.
“But beyond the issue of the votes, Atiku is interested in carrying everybody along even after winning the election by the grace of God,”
He said Atiku’s 5-point agenda encapsulated in his policy document would address the nagging issues bedeviling the country.
“We are urging all Nigerians including those who are non-aligned to see the need to embrace the Atiku-Okowa ticket in their quest to govern Nigeria from 2023.
“It’s on record that Atiku is the only candidate that has been able to bring up a manifesto which is called “My Covenant With Nigerians”.
“What he is doing now is part of his desire to carry everybody along and we commend our other governors for remaining in the party to express their grievances within the party.
“I can assure you that at the end of the day the PDP will move as one family and as a cohesive force in addition to bringing other nigerians on board with a view to reversing the ugly situation that we find our country today.
“Be rest assured that in no too distant time, you will see a very peaceful PDP.”
He further said the Atiku-Okowa mandate would take care of the desires of the country’s youth population and urged Nigerians to support the ticket in its bid to rescue, rebuild and reposition the country from the ineptitude of the APC-led Federal Government.
“With Atiku’s plan, a number of issues that agitates the youths of our country would be addressed so that the country can begin to function and function properly,”
He said the APC were always referring to Lagos because the federal government had failed in the past seven years, adding that Abuja was becoming congested because the APC failed to construct new roads in the Federal Capital Territory.
“Because their performance at the national level is very abysmal hence they are running away from their real records and always referring to Lagos, a Lagos that gets flooded anytime it rains or the Lagos that people can’t move freely because of traffic congestion?
“For us we are going to by the grace of God talk about the country that works for all of us not a Lagos that is not even adding value to the standard of living of the people who live there.
” The kind of traffic congestion now in Abuja wasn’t there in 2015 and this is largely because the APC government has not been able to construct new roads since 2015 when they came on board,” Aniagwu stated.