Buhari Must Go, Atiku Declares in Abia

Buhari Must Go, Atiku Declares in Abia

Urges Nigerians to oust president with PVCs

Emmanuel Ugwu in Umuahia

Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar yesterday issued a clarion call to Nigerians to vote out President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 16 presidential poll, declaring “Buhari Must Go”. Atiku made the call during his presidential campaign rally at the Umuahia Township Stadium, where he addressed a big crowd of party faithful and supporters.

“APC government must be rejected and voted out,” the main opposition candidate stated, stressing that people should not leave the polling booths after voting until their votes were counted and recorded accordingly.

He said the Buhari administration was a disaster, as it has only succeeded in guiding Nigeria to record negative indices in virtually every aspect of national life, including economy, security, national unity, and job creation.

To ease Buhari out of the presidency, Atiku charged every Nigerian of voting age to arm themselves with their permanent voter cards and exercise their civic responsibility on February 16. He said the ruling APC already knew their days in government were numbered and had been doing everything possible to subvert the will of the people. He said Nigerians must be vigilant and protect their votes.

The former vice president said he recognised the economic importance of Aba, the commercial nerve centre and industrial hub of Abia, assuring that if voted to power he would restore Aba to take its pride of place as centre of commerce and innovation. He lamented the continuous exodus of Nigerians into the job market, saying it is a scandalous situation that over 21 million Nigerians are unemployed and the government of the day is doing little or nothing to address the issue.

“The time has come; this is the most important election in our recent history and PDP should be elected to empower youths and women,” he charged Abia voters and the entire Nigerian electorate.

Atiku promised that he would create jobs on a sustainable basis to get Nigerians out of unemployment and give them meaningful means of livelihood.

The PDP vice presidential flag bearer, Mr. Peter Obi, urged the people of Abia State to remain steadfast with PDP and vote all its candidates in the 2019 general election in order to end the maladministration of the APC-controlled federal government.

National chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, told the party faithful that Buhari had realised that Nigerians would reject him at the poll, hence his resort to importing supporters from neighbouring countries to rig the poll. Secondus urged Nigerians not to allow Buhari to avert the waterloo staring him in the face no matter how hard he tried to wriggle himself out by manipulating the polls. He insisted that the people’s vote must count, vowing, “We are for peace (but) will not accept any rigged election and foreigners voting”.

Earlier, before he arrived at the venue of the rally, Atiku was honoured with a chieftaincy title of Aha eji aga mba (the name that rings a bell and opens doors), which was conferred on him by the state council of traditional rulers led by its chairman, Eze Eberechi Dick.

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