The Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party on Monday took his ongoing campaign to Bayelsa State where he restated his commitment to restructure Nigeria if elected.
Atiku urged Bayelsans at the Oxbow Lake Pavilion venue of the event to support his bid for the presidency to enjoy the gains of a restructured Nigeria.
He reminded political leaders in the state that Bayelsa has always been a PDP state and should remain so as everything in the state was provided by the party.
Atiku said that Bayelsa has produced a President, Governors and others and would produce more through the PDP and should not make the mistake to abandon the Party.
He said that his presidency would offer Bayelsa more resources and powers to tackle issues affecting the state as one of Nigeria’s leading oil producing state.
The PDP candidate also restated his resolve to unify the country which he said has been badly divided by the ruling All Progressives Congress more than any time in Nigeria’s history.
He also promised to tackle the worsening insecurity in the country which has claimed the lives of many Nigerians including Bayelsans.
Speaking on the economy, Atiku said that the APC had reversed the economic feat achieved under the PDP stressing that his government would address that and provide jobs for young Nigerians.
He insisted that the education sector would not be allowed to suffer the degrading instability caused by the APC as a lot of resources would be deployed in the sector.
“ I want to remind you since the beginning of democracy, Bayelsa has been PDP and PDP has been Bayelsa, everything you see in Bayelsa today was provided by the PDP government, everything, therefore I am calling on you, the people of Bayelsa not to leave PDP, don’t make the mistake of leaving PDP.
You have provided Governors, a president and you are going to provide many more, so the future of Nigeria and Bayelsa is tired to PDP. I want to appeal to you, you have listened to my programs. I said I am committed to implementing five key programs in this country starting from the unification of this Country. The reason why I want to unify the country is because we have never been this divided along a number of fautlines either north South or Muslim and Christian.
“I am going to give every part of this Country a sense of belonging in the next PDP Government, I promise to tackle Insecurity. Here in Bayelsa state you have faced a number of security challenges, you have lost so many people, do to breach of law and order, I promise I will restore security in this country.
”I also said I am going to tackle the economy of this Country, if you recalled the PDP government between 1999 and 2015, we had the best economy in Africa, but the APC has pushed us back and brought us down. We promised that we are going to tackle the economy and make sure that we provide jobs and other opportunities for our young men and women to be gainfully employed either in the private sector or public sector.
“Again, we promised that we would never see any more ASUU strike, we would devote a lot of resources to education to make sure that our young men and women are educated and they continue to go to school without any interruption.
“Finally, we propose to restructure this country, you people in the Niger Delta need more restructuring than any other part of this country, we would give you more resources and power to deal with your problems, you don’t need to always beg the federal government for everything, when you are actually producing the resources of the country, so we will devolve more power and resources to you in the Niger Delta.
“These are the key areas of our developmental programs. I appeal for your support and understanding, cooperation so that we can achieve all these goals.” He said
The Senator representing Bayelsa West, Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, said that Atiku should be elected President so that he can implement his proposed policy of restructuring and power devolution.
The former two-term Governor of Bayelsa State thanked Atiku for announcing him as his Technical Adviser on Restructuring and National Integration.
He said, “One of the most most important things is that Atiku should be elected so that he can restructure Nigeria.
“If you want power devolution, if you want restructuring, Atiku is the man to support. Atiku has been part of the story of Bayelsa since 1999. I thank our leader for appointing me as his Special Adviser on Restructuring and National Integration.
“Nobody needs to preach to Atiku on restructuring Nigeria, he is an original believer and proponent of it.” He said
The Host Governor, Senator Douye Diri, stated that Atiku is the only candidate who has been talking about resource control, and restructuring of the country which also dominate discussions among Ijaws and Bayelsa.
He said that he is optimistic that with Senator Dickson, Chief Timi Alaibe, the Prosperity Government under him, and other leaders of the party, the PDP is poised to deliver Atiku in Bayelsa.
He said that with the election programmed to be conducted with BVAS, the youth and women are behind the PDP to deliver Atiku in February.
He described the PDP Presidential Candidate as President in waiting.
Others who also spoke are the running mate to Atiku, and Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa who said Bayelsa must give a minimum of 700,000 votes to the PDP, the Party’s National Chairman, Iyiocha Ayu, the Director General Governor Aminu Tanbuwal and others,
