Presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, (rtd) yesterday in Benin urged Nigerians to vote the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), out of power before it kills Nigeria and Nigerians.
Buhari who was in Benin, Edo State capital to canvass for votes, reiterated his commitment to eradicating insecurity in the North-Eastern part of the country, providing employment for the teeming youths and tackling corruption.
“Before PDP kills Nigeria, we better vote them out of power. Use your Permanent Voter’s Card to constitutionally kill PDP in Nigeria,” Buhari urged the people.
The APC presidential hopeful who was welcomed by a tumultuous crowd of party faithful and supporters at the Dr. Sam Ogbemudia Stadium, said every household in the country has suffered from the effect of the misgovernance of the PDP.
He listed insecurity as his first priority if elected President, just as he listed unemployment and fight against corruption as other areas he would tackle headlong.
Noting the danger unemployment poses to the country, Buhari said the quickest way for job creation was through agriculture which will empower farmers through provision of farming inputs and provision of soft loans to people to set up their own businesses, stressing that his administration would tackle corruption which he noted was responsible for most of the country’s problems.
The APC standard bearer also promised to assist Edo and other South-Eastern States in the fight to end erosion.
Buhari noted that the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was only able to generate between 3000 and 4000 Megawatts of electricity after the PDP government had spent over $20 billion in 16 years, and regretted that the output had even nose-dived today.
He, therefore, pledged to fix the power problem confronting the nation.
Earlier, national leader of APC and former governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu while addressing the mammoth crowd at the rally ground, called on Edo people to embark on “common sense revolution” by voting for the APC, saying that the country was tired of promises, as the ruling PDP government had failed to provide jobs for over 50 million unemployed youths, curb insecurity, secure the release of 270 abducted Chibok girls, among others, even as he promised that under APC government the nation’s comatose refineries would be revived.
Also speaking, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, said Edo was the perfect story of Nigeria which six years ago could be liken to a disused vehicle, lacking all accessories, that today the story has changed, adding that like Edo, Nigeria will change when Buhari becomes President.
He listed the issues that will define the election as insecurity which led to 30 local governments to be taken from Nigeria by insurgents, dead refineries through which a few in the present administration were defrauding the country, the importation of petroleum products and lack of power supply for which Nigerians were being fleeced through payment of high bills, including fixed charges for electricity not supplied, among others.
Director-General of the APC Campaign Organisation, Governor Rotimi Amaechi of River State, while welcoming party faithful to the rally, said President Jonathan while campaigning in the state on Wednesday admitted his failure in performing in the South-South states, tagging the president as a man who kept making promises without fulfilling them.
He therefore charged the people of Edo and the South-South Region to vote Jonathan and PDP out of power, as they could not continue to dwell on promises.