PDP Presidential Aspirant Tasks Buhari on Campaign Funds

From Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

One of the presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 election, Senator Datti Ahmed, has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to tell Nigerians the source of his campaign funds.

The 48-year old founder of Base University, Abuja was at PDP headquarters on Friday to formally inform the leadership of his desire to seek the party’s ticket for the 2019 presidential election.

The presidential aspirant who was accompanied to the meeting by the Director General of his campagn organisation, Hon. Chuma Nzeribe, said Nigeria can no longer be ruled in 2019 by people that lament rather than take responsibility.

He painted a very gloomy picture of affairs in the country should Nigerians allow APC to come back in 2019.

Ahmed said he joined the PDP because he believed the party was now safe.

“For surviving the backlash of 2015 election and still retaining its structures, PDP has shown that it is a political party,” he said.

On the issue of corruption, Ahmed said: “Mr. Chairman, there is stealing going on in Nigeria as I speak. This anti corruption is a lie; how can one collect money from people’s salaries to campaign for election and you come to power to say you are fighting corruption? How can your friends and relatives be making billions at our expense? Inflated contracts are still being awarded.

“Two notoriously rich former governors have been rewarded with two of the biggest ministries. I am inviting President Buhari with due respect to come out and address an international press conference to say that his government is not corrupt. Let him tell us categorically that his administration is not corrupt.”

He challenged the president to come clean on how he raised the money spent on his election campaigns in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015.

The presidential aspirant also attacked the notion that President Buhari is very popular in the north, saying that such popularity is not based on any known ideological standpoint but only sentiments.

According to Ahmed, “President Buhari built his politics around the gullible ones, by “inciting hatred of poor people against the elite”.

On what he will do to revamp the economy if elected, the aspirant said his immediate priority will be to stabilise the exchange rate and bring down the interest rate to the lowest level.

On security, he said under his administration every inch of Nigeria’s territory will be accounted for. He promised to deploy technology to monitor all the major towns and highways in the country.
According to Ahmed, stabilising the interest rate and foreign exchange rate will attract more foreign investors thereby creating a buoyant economy.

Speaking on the failings of APC, Ahmed said the party promised to tackle insecurity but instead Nigerians are today being slaughtered on a daily basis without any protection.
In his remarks, the national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said PDP had been rebranded and was ready to return to power in 2019.

“PDP has undergone its worst days and we are coming out the best,” he said. The PDP boss also lamented the spate of violence and killings in the country,Secondus asked APC leaders to stop making excuses for their failure to arrest the ugly situation by using propaganda to try to deceive the people.

Secondus also accused the APC-led administration of bias in its anti corruption crusade by refusing to prosecute its members who are facing corruption allegation.

He said at the appropriate time, the PDP will come out with evidence of corruption against President Buhari and other members of the ruling party.

“Nigerians know the secret of the APC and will expose them when the time comes.

“You can fool the people sometimes but you cannot fool them all the time. Buhari, APC have nothing to offer. Economy, insecurity and unemployment are worsening. APC administration is arresting people out of fear and desperation,” he said.