Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has formally declared his presidential ambition ahead of the 2019 general election, promising to bring about the real change needed to improve the country.
Atiku, whose ambition had long been known, will be vying on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, where other notable politicians like Gov Ibrahim Dankwanbo of Gombe State, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, and Senator Rabiu Kwankanso, a former governor of Kano State, are also said to priming for a bid..
For atiku, who making his fourth bid at the presidency since he lft office as the vice president in 2007, it has been a long-running dream.
The adamawa-born politician made his declaration at a well attended rally in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
Atiku promised to attend to some major challenges facing the nation, especially insecurity, poor economy and unemployment.
According to him, the current administration led by the All Progressives Congress, APC, had failed the nation and made the country worse that it met it.
He stressed that more lives had been lost under the present administration than under any administration in the country.
He said the country had a very high unemployment rate that needed to be attended to urgently.
According to him, it was high time Nigeria was rescued from the grips of the APC.
His words: “I am overwhelmed with this crowd. Fellow Nigerians, in 1998, I took this state, Adamawa to PDP. Not so? Today, I have returned to reclaim what rightly belongs to the PDP.
“Now, my fellow Nigerians, the government of APC has failed. It has failed to unite Nigerians. Today, we are more divided than any other time in the history of this country.
“The APC government has destroyed our economy. They took over an economic growth of 7 per cent and brought it down to less than 2 per cent.
“Today, we are witnessing the most insecure atmosphere in Nigeria ever since its existence. More people have died in Nigeria during the reign of the APC.
“Now, these three fundamental areas are key to our survival in this country. Today we have the highest unemployment rate in the history of this country. More then 10 million of our youths are unemployed. Is that what you want? Now, my brothers and sisters, what the PDP is going to do is to restore our economy…”
Dignitaries at the occasion included National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP , Prince Uche Secondus, Senator Ben Murray Bruce and representatives of the party from different political zones of the country among others.
