From Sylvanus Viashima. Jalingo
Ahead of the February 25th presidential and National Assembly elections in the country, the All Progressives Congress APC has inaugurated the Independent Grassroot Presidential Campaign Council (IGPCC) in Taraba state.
Deputy National Coordinator of the Council Alhaji Umar Ibrahim clarified that the council was part of the strategies of the party to ensure that the party wins elections at all levels in the country without hitches.
Ibrahim said that while the PCC works to organize campaign rallies, the IGPCC works more at the grassroots to sensitize the people, mobilize them and ensure that they do the needful by voting for candidates of the party from top to bottom.
“The IGPCC is aimed at complementing the efforts of the PCC which is saddled with organizing campaigns at the big levels. The IGPCC steps down the campaigns to the grassroots. When this need arose for a coordinator in Taraba, we had to look inwards carefully and concluded that His Excellency Ambassador Hassan Jika Ardo is the most suitable person to fill the gap.
“I am glad about what I have seen here with such a large representation of all sections of the society especially those from the grassroots. We would carry out massive sensitization and mobilization for the people to come out and participate actively in the forthcoming general elections so that we can turn things around for the good of the people.
“The work is enormous. The time is ticking very fast, the resources are limited but we have confidence in this leadership and are optimistic that with your support and cooperation, success is already assured” he said.
Alhaji Hassan Jika Ardo, the state coordinator of the Independent Grassroot Presidential Campaign Council (IGPCC), in his remarks, said that he was not unaware of the enormity of the responsibility vested on him and the council but assured that they will deliver unfailingly with the support of the people.
“This is certainly a very tough job. I am aware of that but I am counting on the same cooperation I enjoyed from you all when I served as the pioneer state Chairman of APC in Taraba. We had some of our best outings then because we had a seamless working relationship and understanding. I hope we can replicate and consolidate that.
“We would work with one and all. We would insist on doing what is right and just. We would be fair to everyone because our goal is, to ensure victory for the party at all levels. The only way we can get the best results is if we elect all APC candidates. This will be our message to the people.
“Our work in Taraba is greatly reduced. Our focus will be to sensitize the people and mobilize them. For the actual campaigns, the PDP’s gross failure, bad governance, and several years of vindictive, nepotic, divisive and hardship-inflicting rule have done the campaigns for us. The people are already fed up with the lies and fake promises of the PDP and are in dire need of change.
“We understand the plight of Tarabans. We sympathize with the people. We sympathize with our students who have had to spend three years in the same semester at the state-owned university due to government insensitivity. We sympathize with market women and other traders who have had to lock up their shops for lack of patronage. We sympathize with millions of children who are forced out of school because of failed government policies. We understand the plight of farmers who go hungry because they don’t have the requisite farm inputs and support from the government and a conducive atmosphere to do their work.
“It is time to rewrite our history. It is time to turn the tables around for good. It is time, ladies and gentlemen, to tap the enormous potential of our dear state and boost the state IGR. It is time to make the state economically viable and solvent. We can not continue in the league of the poorest states in the country. We have no business being there. It is time to act and act rightfully,” Ardo said.
Earlier, the state Chairman of the party Alhaji Ibrahim Tukur El-Sudi said that Alhaji Hassan Jika Ardo was a round peg in a round hole and insisted that “with this inauguration, APC is on the express road to victory. APC will not only take over Taraba and Nigeria in the next general election but will relegate the PDP to oblivion where it belongs”
The party youth leader in the state Mr Idris Ayuba recalled that Ardo, who is the pioneer state Chairman of the party, has made so much sacrifice for the party in the state and has been grossly under-compensated.
He described Ardo as “a unifier and symbol of APC’s unfailing victory in Taraba due to his outspokenness, self-sacrifice, humility and ability to accommodate all interests and grievances amicably.”
Critical stakeholders of the party who converged on the venue of the inauguration all expressed confidence in Jika’s capacity to deliver the state to the party and that the party will form the new government in the country.