The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari has urged Ndigbo not to cast their votes for President Goodluck Jonathan based on sentiment. He maintained that a vote against Jonathan and the PDP would be in the best interest of Nigerians as only such action could save Nigeria from total collapse.
Addressing, political and religious leaders from the South East at a Town Hall meeting yesterday in Owerri, the Imo state capital, the APC presidential candidate stated that no amount of sentiment would justify the re-election of President Jonathan. Buhari further pointed out that President Goodluck Jonathan who has already spent six years as president of the country lacks the vision and will power to tackle the problems of corruption, insecurity and high rate of graduate unemployment in the country. The economy of the country, he said, is in a state of near collapse because of the problem of corruption and President Jonathan lacks the capacity to tackle it.
“I am here for second time to appeal to you that it would not be justified for the people of the south east to vote President Jonathan back to power based on sentiment.” He added that the PDP has failed to deliver on its promises for the past 16 years and if voted into power for another four years the country will totally collapse.
According to Buhari, “No security, no jobs for our youths and today Naira has terribly depreciated to a terrible state. It is in the best interest of the Nigerians and Ndigbo to sack the Peoples Democratic Party at all levels”. Speaking, in the same vein the governor of Lagos state, Mr Babatunde Fashola said that President Jonathan’s touted performance is largely driven by propaganda and deliberately designed to mislead the people. He dismissed as false, the claims by the Jonathan administration to have created over two million jobs and constructed about 25,000 kilometres of roads across the country. Speaking also, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party has perfected plans to rig the election by changing all the heads of the security agencies in the state, but charged the people of the state to resist any attempt to manipulate the results of the polls. ”If the PDP thinks that they can rig the elections by changing all the head of the security agencies in the state, then they don’t know what they are up against because the people of the state are battle ready to resist them against any manipulation”.
Responding the PDP dismissed APC as a party that is doomed to fail.
The statement from the party read in part: “Okorocha is aware that he has failed the people of Imo state and would be issued his well-deserved red card on the 11th of April and the honourable thing to do is to begin to pack out of government house and not to incite the youths and his thugs against constituted authorities. If he wants our children to tout for him in the election, he should also bring out his children on the streets. 2011 was a political error that would not happen again.” Present at the event were General Muhammadu Buhari, Prof Yemi Osinbajo ,Rivers state governor, Rt Hon . Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Lagos state governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Senator Chris Ngige, Chief John Oyegun amongst others.
