By Adamu MuazuOn Saturday, Nigerians will once again troop out in their numbers to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed rights to elect their President and members of the national parliament. (Senate and House of Representatives).
In the past three months, our party’s campaign train has been traversing the nooks and crannies of our great country campaigning and interfacing with our citizens at different levels soliciting for their support ahead of the general elections, which is now at the doorstep.
In the course of our campaigns, we met with Nigerians from all walks of life, especially those in the grassroots and we found in them, irrespective of creed, tribe or class, a resilient people with an unwavering belief and commitment to democracy, freedom, rule of law, peace and unity of our dear nation.
As a party that has nurtured democracy in our country in the past 16 years, the PDP deeply appreciates the relentless support and goodwill from our citizens across board without which this would not have been possible.
As you are aware, in keeping with our avowed commitment to a peaceful electoral process, the PDP under my leadership has ran an orderly campaign based only on issues, devoid of unnecessary political mudslinging and acts of desperations, especially seeing the fact that a majority of the Nigerian voting population is solidly behind us.
Our campaigns and rallies have been greeted by the turnout of millions of Nigerians, men and women of good faith, citizens who cherish democracy and the indivisibility of our great nation, the cardinal values of the PDP as the only true democratic party committed to the national interest.
We ran a very vigourous campaign based on sincerity and truth. We could not have done otherwise. We placed before Nigerians an array of credible candidates and records of verifiable achievements of our elected and appointed officers especially our standard bearer, President Goodluck Jonathan.
Let me at this point salute the commitment and dedication of our party leaders at the national, zonal, state, local government and ward levels as well as our volunteers across the states of the federation.
In the course of this campaign they all showed extra-ordinary vigour and indeed put in their best and braced all odds in mobilising and strengthening the confidence Nigerians have for us and the President.
It may interest you to note that apart from our rallies and town hall meetings, we leveraged on our enormous strength as the only true national party and activated our structures at all the electoral wards across the country.
Our leaders alongside volunteers and supporters quietly engaged in personal mobilisation of Nigerians, using doors to door and person to person approach especially at the grassroots.
The result is a massive mobilisation of millions of voters in strategic parts of the country ready to cast their votes for the PDP.
Though a herculean task, it was made easy by our record of achievements and the ability of our publicity machinery to effectively articulate the unique selling points of our party and got Nigerians to know and understand the major difference between us and the opposition in terms of character, content and mission.
We effectively articulated the fact that whereas the PDP is the only true democratic party committed to the national interest and platform where all Nigerians can freely engage and realise their yearnings and aspiration without regard to sectional, ethnic and religious considerations, the opposition was mainly a parochial platform, without a national agenda, driven by the whims and ambition of few individual pursuing narrow personal interests.
We made Nigerians to see beyond the veneer of propaganda to appreciate the fact that the opposition has nothing to offer other than empty promises, deceit and lies.
Indeed, the hollowness of their campaigns vindicated us. They have no manifesto, no development blueprint and no clear model for wealth creation. In fact, they do not have any policy direction to back their much-mouthed change slogan.
The difference between the opposition and us in this regard is that while they have nothing to offer, we do. We have our manifesto, our programmes and projects.
We have our roadmap for a prosperous future, our array of credible candidates, our abiding faith in the unity, stability and prosperity of our dear nation and above all a better and more acceptable product in President Goodluck Jonathan, our standard bearer.
As we moved along, one thing was clear. Nigerians from across the nation identify with President Jonathan as a sincere, forthright and committed leader whose exceptional steadfastness Nigeria and record of performance despite daunting challenges stand him out as the man for the future.
President Jonathan has proven to be a man of very strong character and a brave leader and it is certain that our nation will continue in the path of unity, stability and prosperity under his leadership.
Never in the history of our nation have we witnessed the insurgency that is hitting at the very heart of our national unity and cohesion.
Instead of reacting in ways that could damage the trust and love of Nigerians for one another, our President has been acting more on the side of caution by ensuring that actions to defeat terrorism are carefully thought-out and pursued. Today we are seeing the results.
The fact that the president has been able to stabilise the polity by his pan-Nigeria outlook and approach to governance is not in dispute. Today, every geo- political zone in the country enjoys a sense of belonging in terms of infrastructure development, economic and human capital empowerment.
In the last four years under Jonathan, our economy has grown to become the largest in Africa and one of the fastest growing in the world, a fact the opposition cannot contest.
This feat did not occur by accident but through the meticulous application of well thought-out policies and programmes, which created and sustained an investment-friendly environment in addition to directly empowering Nigerian businesses to thrive in all sectors under the Transformation Agenda.
Furthermore, in the last four years, our private sector has witnessed a phenomenal expansion with unparalleled volume of domestic and direct foreign investments empowering our people in all walks of life.
Within this period more businesses have opened in Nigeria. There have been more investments in telecommunication, banking, oil and gas, transport, aviation, hospitality, automobile, education, agriculture, healthcare and manufacturing with an unprecedented expansion rate, providing business and employment opportunities for millions of our citizens across the country.
With strategic investments in power and road infrastructure; the return of the railways and inland waterways; the repositioning of the aviation industry, the rapid expansion in the telecommunication sector; the unequalled investment in agriculture with food production exceeding the targeted 20 million metric tons in 2015; the revamping of the manufacturing sector with automobile companies setting up factories in Nigeria, the economy is on sure foundation and prepared to move to the next level of growth under a Jonathan-led PDP administration.
Also our citizens have been directly empowered through various job creation initiatives such as the SURE-P, YouWin, Nagropreneurs project, the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund, the National industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), and the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) expected to generate no fewer than five million direct jobs before the end of 2015.
We have also witnessed a revolution in education with the establishment of the Almajiri system of education, the Girl-Child Education and Back-to-School programmes, the establishment of 14 new universities among other landmark projects.
In health, President Jonathan has vigourously pursued his administration’s National Strategic Health Development Plan resulting in affordable health care and a record increase in life expectancy in the nation.
It may also interest you to note that the Jonathan administration recorded health milestones with the eradication of polio and the globally acknowledged feat on the control of Ebola Virus Disease, which attracted accolades from the international community.
In addition, President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is a listening leader, ready to accommodate the views of the citizenry, the hallmark of democracy.
The recent approval of the final report of the 2014 National Conference, the reduction in electricity tariff and cut in the price of petrol clearly underscores his commitment to democratic tenets, the wellbeing of the people and development of the nation.
Nigerians as resilient people appreciate sincerity, genuine efforts and capacity. It is on this tripod that they anchor their insistence that what the nation needs at the moment is an uninterrupted flow of the transformation effort under President Goodluck Jonathan, particularly as the opposition has failed to articulate any workable alternative to them.
Undoubtedly, the next four years under Jonathan is expected to witness a maximum yield in the development efforts especially given the measures already put in place by the administration to plug all loopholes and check waste in the system.
The independent revenue e-collection scheme, an automated system under the Treasury Single Account, is one of the deliberate policies already put in place to ensure greater monitoring and control of spending in government ministries, departments and agencies across board.
Gentlemen of the press, I can therefore most confidently assure you that with the support of Nigerians, we are headed for an overwhelming victory at the Presidential and National Assembly elections come Saturday, the 28th of March 2015.
Our support base in all the states and the six geo-political zones are formidable. We have worked hard and we will win fair and square.
Not only that we will give the opposition a crushing defeat in our original states of Sokoto, Kano, Nasarawa, Edo, Rivers, Imo and Kwara we are also headed for a sweeping victory in the south west and the northern states of the federation including in states regarded as the strongholds of the opposition.
In the south west, apart from the fact that we are in control of Ekiti and Ondo states, we are set to win in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun and Osun states where we have worked hard to secure the support of the people.
In these states, especially Lagos, our task was made easy by the fact that the people are fed up with the insincerity of the APC and the huge levies and taxes imposed on them. Indeed, nobody wants to continue to support a party whose leaders have turned their states into private businesses, looting funds meant for development, converting state owned property to personal belongings and milking the citizens to finance their wasteful lifestyle.
In the north, where we control the governments of 12 out of the 19 states, we are happy to report that we enjoy the full goodwill and support of the people. The north remains a stronghold of the PDP with solid political structures oiled over the years in all the electoral wards and local governments in the region.
Our capacity for a sweeping victory is buoyed by the various tangible development projects that have hugely affected the lives of ordinary Nigerians in the region, a factor that has put us in a good stead to win back our original states as well as others considered to be fortress of the opposition.
When we went to the north, we did not just go to canvass for votes. We went loaded with verifiable achievements of our party and our Presidential candidate.
The people of the north are well aware that no government has touched their lives in more positive way that the Jonathan administration.
They know that the establishment of the Almajiri system of education, the first of its kind in the area was borne out of deep love and commitment to the development of the region.
Furthermore, the people of the north are aware that out of the 14 new universities established by President Jonathan, 9 are located in the northern states thereby ensuring that every state in the region has a federal university. They know that President Jonathan ensured that out of the 2.7 million direct farm jobs achieved by this administration, over 2 million are in the north.
Indeed, the north knows that the establishment of the e-wallet system, which eliminated the corruption in the distribution of fertilizers and other farm inputs making them directly accessible to millions of farmers in the region has boosted their productivity.
They appreciate that the silos are brimming and food pyramids are returning in the region. In the same vein they know that the revitalization of the railways by the Jonathan administration brought immense benefit to their economic and social lives.
Today, northern businesses are better connected through the revamped north-south rail lines. The Minna-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano narrow gauge has been rehabilitated while the Markurdi-Lafia-Kuru-Bauchi-Gombe-Ashaka-Maiduguri, as well as the branch line from Kafanchan to Kaduna are at completion stages and will be operational soon.
On roads, the north has also witnessed unprecedented investments. Remarkably, the decades-long intractable Kano-Maiduguri highway that is the longest stretch in the country is being successfully tackled.
Hundreds of such gigantic road projects are going on in the region in addition to the dredging of the River Niger from Lokoja to Baro in Niger states.
Gentlemen of the press, may I state that this election is beyond propaganda and empty popularity claims in the social media. It is about performance, sincerity of purpose and commitment to the unity, stability and prosperity of our dear nation. On these, the PDP and President Jonathan stand much more taller than the opposition and its presidential candidate.
Finally, we charge our members and supporters at all levels of our structure to remain focused and steadfast to the course as we move together to victory on Saturday.
For the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) security agencies and other key stakeholders in this election, we stress in the strongest possible terms that we stand with the Nigerian people in desiring nothing short of free, fair and credible elections.
I thank you all
Photo credit: Thestreetjournal
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