[FILE PHOTO] At the announcement of Peter Obi as vice president candidate for AtikuNiger Delta agitators yesterday supported former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi’s bid to lead the country after the 2019 polls.
In a statement, they warned Nigerians against reelecting President Muhammadu Buhari next year, arguing that doing so would amount to signing their death warrants.
Claiming that the President Buhari-led administration is akin to military regime, they pointed at insecurity, poverty and youth unemployment in the country, insisting that nothing meaningful had been achieved in the past three years under the present government.
The agitators thereby enjoined Atiku not to renege on his promise to restructure the country, as well as tackle the many problems besetting the Niger Delta region.
“Arising from the emergency meeting of the Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators on Sunday, October 28, 2018, the coalition views President Buhari’s re-election bid as signing a death warrant, especially for the Niger Delta people.
“Information at our disposal shows that President Buhari is not in charge of governance in Nigeria, rather the government is being run by a cabal in the presidency.
“Therefore, we advise Nigerians to think twice and vote out Buhari because he came to power without any plan and vision for the country, his only plan was to avenge his political foes, thinking that Nigeria is still under military era,” the statement reads.
They declared total support for Atiku/Obi ticket, saying, “Nigerians need a Vice President who could assist the President to create jobs, secure lives and property, uphold the sanctity of human lives, as well as respect to the rule of law.
We need a team that would turn the ‘lazy Nigerian youths’ to busy, focused and working youths.”
However, a pro-democracy group, Rebirth Nigeria Leadership and Good Governance Initiative has questioned the income declaration of presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, saying it is full of irregularities that need further probing.
Atiku had declared N60.2 million as his income in three years, but the group said the former vice president is worth more than that and was either trying to deceive Nigerians or he wants to avoid paying the right taxes to government
Addressing journalists in Abuja, National President of the group, Olugbenro Ogunoye, said the amount Atiku declared could not even cover his trips to the Gulf states within a year.
He explained that a return first class ticket averages N3.5 million to Dubai and considering the number of times he travels there, the arithmetic is glaring.
He said Atiku was not under any obligation to declare his income to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but that attempting to mislead the electoral body with his earnings, calls for concern.
Niger Delta agitators support Atiku, Obi ticket
