BAUCHI – Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar has promised to turn around the fortunes of the North East subregion if elected as President in 2023.
Atiku, who hailed from Ganye Adamawa State in northeastern Nigeria, lamented that insurgency and other challenges have retarded the development and progress of the entire subregion.
The former Vice President acknowledged that the incoming President must act fast to salvage the situation.
He said if elected as the President of the country he would immediately embark on the restoration of infrastructure and development of North East.
He promised to complete the abandoned Mambilla hydro power plant saying it was key to the development of the area.
Atiku made the promise during an interactive session with North-East PDP Stakeholders when he visited Bauchi on Wednesday to receive decampees into the PDP.
He explained that the interactive session, which was held inside the Multipurpose Indoors Sports Hall, Bauchi, was to share with stakeholders his plans for the revitalisation of the North East subregion.
He lamented that the Mambilla hydropower plant project had been there for over 50 years without realizing the potential of the project.
“If PDP is elected and I become president in 2023, we will restore the Mambila hydropower project, ” he said.
He also promised to end insecurity in the North East.
“I will restore the potential of this subregion because we have the best soil in this country and most of our people are engaged in Agriculture,” he said.
“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.
“These are laudable projects that our government would implement in our subregion when eventually elected into power.”
He appreciated PDP stakeholders for coming in their thousands to rally support for his candidature.
“Give me your votes come in 2023 and I will turn things around in our dear North East region,” he said
Speaking at the interactive session, the National Chairman of the PDP, Iyiocha Ayu, assured decampees to the party of a sense of belonging.
“I want to assure you, my brothers and sisters, that PDP is a united family,” Ayu said.
“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.
“I am here 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, they will make us capable because Bauchi state, for example, is one of the key states in Nigeria,”.
Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, who spoke on behalf of the people of North East, pledged to give overwhelming votes to the PDP in all elections in 2023.
He said that the stakeholders in the region have so much belief and confidence in the PDP presidential candidate’s ability to deliver.
Mohammed reiterated that the PDP stakeholders would continue to remain loyal to Atiku Abubakar and mobilise votes for him and the party from bottom to top to ensure that it wins the 2023 general election.
