Former Vice-President and Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has said part of what his government would do if elected into power was to restructure Nigeria and quell separatist agitations, particularly, in the Southeast.
Atiku also said Nigeria was in very bad shape and that rescuing it required proper preparations and attention to detail, not just in terms of general issues affecting the whole country but also issues specific to each zone and the states therein.
The PDP candidate, who spoke on Tuesday in Enugu State, when he met with party stakeholders in the Southeast, together with his running mate and Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, in furtherance of Atiku’s consultations, preparatory to the commencement of campaigns for the 2023 presidential election, however, said any government that planned to solve Nigeria’s economic crisis must carry the South East along.
He said the country was more divided today than it has ever been and that part of his responsibility if elected as President would be to reunify through equity, justice and fairness.
According to him, restructuring that devolves powers from the Federal Government and gives states the power to set their priorities is better for this zone than what the country currently has and has had since the late 1960s.
He maintained that his government would work with the legislatures to restructure the federal system and devolve more powers to the states with corresponding resources.
He explained that restructuring would help tackle the feeling of marginalization, which is providing an excuse for the separatist agitations in this zone and that national unity would benefit the people of this zone, who needed a wider platform to operate on.
While noting that the Southeast had supported him through thick and thin and would always remember that, he said the region has produced sons and daughters, who had played very positive roles in the development of the country.
He, however, regretted that insecurity now pervades the Southeast as much as other zones, a situation which according to him, was negatively impacting the economy of the zone and the livelihoods of its people, which were being destroyed by the Monday sit-at-home.
He explained that his five priorities, which included reunifying the country, improving security, fixing the economy; restructuring the federation and improving human capital development, would have the most impact on all other aspects of development and the quality of life as citizens and as a country.
In his address, Okowa lamented that Nigeria had never been disunited as it is under the APC leadership, adding that the only solution to the current problems confronting the nation would be for Nigerians to give the PDP and its candidate an opportunity to serve.
He lauded the Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, for providing true leadership and mobilising party members to attend the event, stressing that, “PDP is Southeast and Southeast is PDP.”
