PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, took his campaign for election to Aba on Wednesday where he told the South East business community that President Muhammadu Buhari must be voted out of the office to enable the business to grow in the region and the country at large.
Addressing a crowded town hall meeting in the Abia state capital, he observed that the president does not have the capacity and the will to tackle the numerous challenges facing southeast business including the issue of non-functional ports.
The candidate who chanted “Buhari must go” to the audience, added that as a businessman himself, he feels their pain.
He said: “Of course we know that we have to make the ports work better and more efficient but nobody in this government understands the functions of the ports. Nobody! Whether it is a dry port, whether it is a wet port, whatever port it is, nobody in this government understands the workings of the ports.
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“Tell me, how are they going to solve the problems for you? You have no business voting for APC, I beg you.”
The former Vice President told his audience that no interaction with the business community is complete without meeting the southeasterners who he observed are dominant in business around the country.
He said: “I am delighted to come and interact with the business community because everywhere you go, it is the southeasterners. So, naturally, if we want to know the pulse of the business community, you have to come here (Aba).”
Having listened to catalogue of complaints about the business environment in the region, Atiku promised to do whatever is within the law to remedy the situation if elected as president.
He stated: “I will do whatever I can to promote business as long as it is within the confines of our laws, not because I am a businessman but I want to see the prosperity of the people and the prosperity of our country.”
The presidential flag bearer noted all that he had been told by the business community about the difficulty they faced is factual.
He added: “We must listen to you because all that you said is true and factual. The challenges you have enumerated for me are quite evident.
“I know and I feel your pains because am also one of you. But we have to work together to remove those challenges, those pains.”
Atiku recalled that it was PDP administration that established dry ports in the country, wondering: “So, why would we not want them to function properly. If you want them to work, you’d better return PDP power.
This government doesn’t have the capacity, the will to do it.”
He also said that previous PDP government set up the Ease of Doing Business but that “this government has completely destroyed it.”
The former Vice President, therefore, assured that if elected, his administration would simplify things for business, promising to make registration of business possible from one’s own computer.
“We have two great businessmen in myself and Peter Obi (his running mate). Nigeria has not had this since independence. The only government that has tried to solve a business problem is PDP, ” he stated.
In his remark, Obi explained that Atiku was in Aba because the city is the hub of manufacturing in West Africa.
He assured the people that Atiku “the incoming president, is different. He is a businessman, he has created wealth. If you have created wealth, you can manage Nigeria. He knows what’s happening in the market.”
Obi said: “The next PDP government will be totally different because we have a man who has an idea. Under Atiku, SMEs will not be looking for money, money will be looking for SMEs.”
The National Chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, observed that the country is in distress as the economy has collapsed.
He pointed out that the murder of former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Alex Badeh, is an indication of the low level the nation had degenerated.
He argued that from the largest economy in Africa, the country is now the poverty capital of the world.
The party boss accused President Buhari of never taking responsibility for anything including what he observed as the corruption within his cabinet.
Speaking for the business community, Ify Okolue, Zonal Director, Nigeria Shippers Council, said the congestion in Lagos ports makes business people in the east to “shed tears.”
She said: “If more ports are developed here, the problems of importers and exporters will be helped and it will bring down the cost of doing business in the east.”
She appealed that Onitsha should be dredged further while Onne, Warri and Port Harcourt ports should be activated.
Among prominent personalities present at the town hall meeting were Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Liyel Imoke, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Mrs Jennifer Atiku Abubakar, Chris Uba, Ben Obi, and Achike Udenwa.
