2019: Atiku, Agbaje will lead Nigeria out of bondage — Lagos PDP leaders

Ahead of commencement of presidential campaign as permitted by INEC, a group of leaders in Lagos State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday affirmed its support for the party’s candidate, Vice- President Atiku Abubakar and the state governorship candidate, Mr Jimi Agbaje, saying the duo were ones that could lead Nigeria out of political and economic bondage it had found itself currently.

The leaders, including a founding member of PDP, Chief Amos Olayinka; a key member of Friend of Waziri Adamawa (FOWA), Barrister Olisa Phil Ashiri and Olufemi Folorunsho, said this at a press conference in Ikeja, lamenting that the country was in bondage currently under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) led government as Nigerians were hungry and angry and would take purposeful people like Alhaji Abubakar and Agbaje to save the situation, come 2019.

According to Chief Olayinka, who described himself as a committed Atiku and Agbaje’s loyalists, nothing appeared to be working in the country anymore in terms of healthcare delivery, power supply, among others, saying that Nigeria was now retrogressing and the international community now looked at her as a laughing stock.

This was just as he contended that restructuring the country, which the PDP presidential candidate had agree to implement, come 2019 if elected into office, would bring about checks and balances and also reduce corruption while allowing each of the states in the country to develop faster than imagined.

“I am a committed Agbaje’s supporter and am a committed Atiku person, no shaking because these are people that can lead us out of the bondage that we have found ourselves now because the way I look at Nigeria, it is in bondage.

“And I have no doubt in my mind that their likes are the people that can lead us out of the bondage that we have found ourselves,” he said.

Speaking further, Olayinka observed that nothing was hampering the country’s growth than absence of purposeful leaders, recalling that 20 years back, the Peoples Republic of China was in much similar situation that Nigeria now found itself.

“Twenty years ago, China was in a situation that Nigeria is today and look at where China is today because they were able to put leaders who they knew can move their country forward.

“Today, the United States cannot tell China who the hell you are? They can’t do that, this is a situation I want Nigeria to be and it is Agbaje and Atiku that can put us in that position,” he stated.

The PDP chieftain contended that both Atiku and Agbaje were men of pedigree, describing the party’s Lagos governorship candidate as a grade A student throughout his academic career from secondary to university level.

“These are the kind of purposeful people that we should hand Nigeria over to, not the ‘jeunjeun’ people that we have been handing Nigeria to and they want to eat Nigeria raw, you know. We should just pray it doesn’t happen to us,” Chief Olayinka said.

On the perceived rift between the former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George and Mr Agbaje, Chief Olayinka said the matter had since been resolved, saying situation like that could not be ruled out in matter of interactions, even as he pointedly declared that the party had since gone to the grassroots and it’s governorship candidate (Agbaje) would emerge the next governor of Lagos State.

“I have no doubt in my mind, Agbaje has won election in Lagos, I have no doubt in my mind, Agbaje has won election in Lagos.

“The other day, Agbaje and his running mate went to see Bode George in his office. There is no more problem between them. At times, thongs and teeth would fight, but they will resolve. There is no way two people would not quarrel.

“Forget about it, they have resolved. I am still saying it, Agbaje is the next governor of Lagos,” the PDP chieftain said.

Also speaking, Barrister Phil-Ashiri, while also asserting that the PDP governorship candidate would defeat the APC candidate, Mr Olajide Sanwo- Olu said the myth that the ruling party and its National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu were in firm grim of Lagos was not a reality.

According to him, the PDP is in the know of the under-currents playing out, saying that the party did not lose the 2015 poll in the state.

He said were the governorship election to have been held first before then presidential poll, “this hegemony would have been destroyed finally.”

Phil-Ashiri, while describing Atiku as a man gifted with ability to assemble a team that even brought about the phenomenal successes recorded by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, including the writing off of Nigeria’s debt by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), among others, assured that Atiku, if voted in 2019, having done a lot well would give the country the leadership the country had never witnessed before.

“So in a nutshell, Nigerians would vote individuals and not party, the likes of Atiku and Obi based on what they have been able to achieve in their private life. The man (Atiku) has been able to make a turn around on what he has touched in his life. He has done a lot to catch the attention of Nigerians.

“He has not been indicted anywhere. Our principal has done a lot well. Iron sharpens iron, he would give the leadership we have never seen before,” he assured.