Ahead of next weekend’s presidential election, wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, has officially received members of over 145 aggrieved Atiku Abubakar Support Groups into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign organisations to brighten the re-election bid of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Addressing the new converts in Abuja, the Aisha represented by the Chairman, Central Working Committee of the Women and Youth campaign organisation, Buba Marwa, urged them to project President Buhari’s candidacy from door-to-do and ensure that all the members got their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) to vote.
“We welcome you as part of the supporters of President Buhari with open hands. This is like a train leaving its station and you are able to catch that train before it goes. You people have taken the right decision and not a moment sooner. You have come on board at the right time as the votes of your various organisations will count.
“You have agreed to support a person who is in impeccable in character, impeccable in leadership, impeccable in honesty, impeccable in patriotism and impeccable in compassion to Nigerians. This is one leader that is fighting corruption and he has said, do as I do and not do as I say.
“So, speaking on behalf of the chairperson of the Women and Youth Presidential campaign team, Aisha Buhari, we are grateful to you all; we acknowledged this show of support. She specifically said I should pass the message that from here, we will integrate you into organisations that are relevant to your various state, local governments, wards and units and you will go out there to campaign from door-to-door taken full advantage of what you know of the government and performance of President Buhari,” he said.
While defending their decision to dump Atiku Abubakar and the PDP to support the re-election of President Buhari, the leader of the group, Bello Osaretin Godspower, said: “It is instructive to assert or pontificate that the fight against corruption that has been identified as a major problem of previous government are being well fought under President Buhari with global acknowledgement.
“We are glad to appreciate the good work of Mr. President and today, the roads are working, the rails are back on track, the agricultural sector which is the instrument of diversification is on course and the farmers can now smile to the banks; the social intervention policy that is the N-Power Programme, the School Feeding Programme and the TraderMoni programme are well implemented with due diligence coupled with uncountable infrastructural development that are scattered across the country, especially in the power sector.
“Therefore, we cannot afford to stand akimbo and aloof in the political space to allow rascals, hooligans and economic thieves who are professionally hollow, delinquent in leadership panache, nomadic in character and content to hold sway in the governance of Nigeria once again,” he said.
Bello added that their despondency against PDP was borne out of “Atiku Abubakar’s disdainful treatment on support groups, which snowballed into neglect, nepotic deployment, use-and- dump style coupled with lack of direction and reward management system made worse by the infusion and infiltration of people with questionable characters into his campaign train, who were once responsible for the rape on Nigeria state and were also found culpable for the culture of gross impunity and social recklessness in the society.”