Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has lamented that the North East subregion has suffered enough devastation from security challenges which has retarded the development and progress of the entire area.
Atiku Abubakar made the pledge at the interactive session with North-East PDP Stakeholders when he visited the state on Wednesday to receive new members into the PDP.
Atiku who affirmed that he was born and brought up in the subregion said that he must act very fast to salvage the situation if voted into power as the President of the country stressing that he will restore the infrastructural development of the area.
The Presidential candidate promised that the first thing he would do is to quickly complete the Mambilla hydropower plant which is key to the development of the area.
The former Vice President explained that the reason for the interactive session held inside the Multipurpose Indoors Sportshall was to share with stakeholders the plans of his candidature for the revitalisation of the North East subregion.
He lamented that the Mambila hydropower plant project has been there for over 50 years without realizing the project, stressing that if eventually elected as president in the 2023 general elections, he will complete it.
According to him, “If PDP is elected and I become president in 2023 we will restore the Mambila hydropower project, and address insecurity in the Northeast. I will restore potential in this subregion, we have the best soil in this country and most of our people are engaged in Agriculture.”
He added that”In 1999, we designed a rail line from Gombe to Adamawa and Taraba to Makurdi that would link the Eastern part of the country but has not been commenced.”
According to him, “these are the laudable projects that our government would implement in our subregion when eventually elected into power.”
He, however, appreciated PDP stakeholders in the subregion for coming in their thousands to rally support for his candidature saying, “Give me your votes come in 2023 and I will turn things around in our dear North East region.”
Speaking at the interactive session, the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyiocha Ayu said that the new members were well over 300,000.
According to him, “I want to assure you, my brothers and sisters, that PDP is a united family, they will try to divide us but they will fail, stay united. If we were not attractive as a party, there won’t be so many decampees coming back to their party.”
He added that “Today, we received over 300,000 decampees into the PDP. I am to welcome all of them and to assure them that they will be treated as every other PDP member of the family, they will make us strong, and they will make us capable because Bauchi state, for example, is one of the key states in Nigeria.”
In his remark at the interactive session, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir who spoke on behalf of the people of the North-East subregion, pledged to give overwhelming votes to the PDP in all elections.
He said that the stakeholders in the region have so much in the Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar because he belongs to the region and the stakeholders have confidence in him and his ability to deliver.
Bala Mohammed reiterated that the PDP stakeholders would continue to remain loyal to Atiku Abubakar and would mobilize votes for him and the party from bottom to top to ensure that it won the general elections.
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