From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign, Mr Charles Aniagwu, on Saturday said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had no plan to better the lots of Nigerians.
Reacting to claims by Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed that PDP copied from what the APC was doing, Aniagwu said the APC had no single plan to copy from, adding that Atiku had long prepared his policy document titled ‘My Covenant With Nigerians’.
He said that in the past seven years, APC had continued to mismanage the nation’s diversity, economy, education, and security architecture.
Speaking on a live television programme, Aniagwu said the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar would energise the country’s private sector to drive the nation’s economy to provide jobs for the people.
According to him, the APC has no single plan to develop this country.
“If they had a plan, Nigeria would not be where we are today, because they would have known that it was important to manage our diversity so that everybody is well taken care of.
“Nigerians helped them to power in 2015 and they left them behind after failing to fulfil all their campaign promises.
“Atiku’s plan for Nigeria is generic and it is resting on the fact that our Presidential candidate and his running mate Governor Ifeanyi Okowa understand what the issues are.
“Atiku didn’t just wake up to declare for President, he has been preparing for this over time and he is adequately apprised with what it takes to indeed rescue and rebuild Nigeria,” he said.
Aniagwu who is also Delta State Commissioner for Information said only Atiku was prepared to lead as other candidates weren’t ready with their plans.
“Each time you ask other presidential candidates they will tell you that they will soon come up with their manifesto and that tells you that they are not prepared for the task ahead.
“Nigeria is currently at an intensive care unit and does not require a leader who is not adequately prepared to lead her out of its present challenges,” Aniagwu added.
He said the party’s plan rests on a clear understanding of the issues of mismanagement of the nation’s diversity, insecurity, economy and unemployment among others.
“Because of the failure of the APC government to understand the diversity of Nigeria they have poorly mismanaged this diversity making Nigerians be at war with each other.
“Atiku says he is coming to ensure that this war ceases by ensuring that all ethnic groups are on the table to discuss issues as they affect their people and this brings confidence.
“Atiku is prepared to unite Nigerians because most of the challenges in the economy, security and unemployment are symptomatic of the very poor management of our diversity.
“Beyond his clear understanding of the nation’s diversity, Atiku is a man with a CEO mentality, he has been a businessman and he understands what it takes to run a business and so he is coming to ensure that jobs return to our people,” he stated.
On Fuel Subsidy, he said Atiku’s administration would not continue with the present subsidy regime as it had not been beneficial to the ordinary man it was meant to serve.
“The present subsidy regime has not been the best for us as a country, Atiku isn’t against subsidy but he believes that when you subsidize, it must go to the actual people you are subsidising in this case those who don’t have the purchasing power.
“At present, Nigeria is subsidising other countries and those who can afford to pay. Our subsidy as it is now is not reaching out to the poor.
“Atiku says he is going to tinker with the subsidy regime by inviting private sector players to build functional refineries which will bring down the price on account of competition so that at the end of the day there wouldn’t be anything to subsidise because the people’s purchasing power would have been enhanced,”
On education, Atiku says he is going to revitalise the education sector by collaborating with the state governments to ensure that the education sector is managed effectively.
“All our universities in Delta are in session while others across the country have been on strike for 8 months now, we were able to achieve this because Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who is Atiku’s running mate understands how to ensure that the students remain in school.
“Having that kind of partnership in their administration by the grace of God means that the same principles Okowa deployed in ensuring that the lecturers and students remained in the classrooms in Delta would also be brought to bear across the nation,” Aniagwu stated.