2023: I will   restructure Nigeria, if elected  -Atitku

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Friday in Asaba , Delta State , promised to restructure the country if given the mandate to  run the country  in 2023.

Atiku who made the promise while Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) delegates in Asaba, including Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, said he would focus attention on the unity of the country, insecurity, economy and education, among others if given the opportunity to govern the country.

While lamenting that the country was at a cross road and needed an experienced hand to navigate through, he said the issue of power rotation was enshrined in the party’s constitution.

He however said what the PDP needed at this time was to grab the power before entrenching rotation and thanked delegates from Delta for the support given to him at the Port Harcourt convention in 2019. He appealed to them to vote for him in the PDP presidential convention billed for 28 and 29 of this month in Abuja.

Abubakar said: “We want to thank you very much indeed particularly for the support that we received from Delta in the last primaries that took place in Port Harcourt. We cherished that support and we value that support and we shall not forget that support.

“Having said that, we have come to another season of elections in the country but this season is unique because Nigeria has never found itself in this type of situation facing numerous challenges.

 “That was why when l declared to run for the presidential election this time around, l identified five key areas that this country requires immediate attention.

“First of all, l identified the lack of unity in our country today. Why lack of unity because we have the government of APC which does not identify with our diversity, which does not respect our diversity and governs as if we all don’t matter.

“And as a result of that, we have a very divided country and l said l will tackle this disunity on the first day of my presidency if elected”.

The PDP presidential hopeful called on delegates to put competence and credibility above money in casting their votes for aspirants to fly the flag of the party.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in his remarks, said Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has the experience to take the country out of the challenges bedevilling the nation, affirming that the issue of restructuring was germane to the people of the Niger Delta region in the choice of who should rule the country in 2023.

Okowa said the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was one way to enhance a credible election and charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that transparency was not compromised.

He said delegates from the state will scrutinize the presidential aspirants and throw their weight behind the most credible at the forthcoming party’s primaries.

The Governor said: “We have a lot of insecurity at the moment. Issues concernining education has been identified but very importantly to us in the South South geopolitical zone, is the issue of restructuring.

“Having talked about these key issues, we have noted your speech and we believe that you are a man we can trust because the issues that you have raised are issues that concern us and concern this nation.

“And we beleive that we require a lot of experience to be able to deal with these issues without learning on the ropes.

“So, at the time decisions would be made by Deltans, a lot of these issues would be examined. We would examine all aspirants who will present themselves at the convention on the 28 of this month and Deltans will always vote for the person that has a great capacity

“But we are convinced that you are and you were in a team that was able to find solutions at the time such things happened in the past. I believe that that will score you very high in our minds at the time that we are taking decisions”.

The state Chairman of the PDP, Chief Kingsley Esiso said delegates will support aspirants with proven integrity.