PDP Ticket: Anyim, Hayatu-Deen Intensify Campaigns, Meet Zamfara, Kogi Delegates

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Counting down to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential convention this month, a former secretary to the government of the federation,  Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and an economist and investment banker, Mohammad Hayatu-Deen, have intensified their campaigns, meeting delegates from different parts of the country.

While Anyim met with delegates from Kogi and Zamfara States in furtherance of his consultations, Hayatu-Deen engaged the party’s members of the House of Representatives, during which he pledged that he had the capacity to rescue and reform Nigeria

Anyim, at the meeting with Zamfara PDP delegates in Abuja, promised to prioritise the security of lives and property as well as economic development if elected president in 2023, even as he explained that the senseless killings in Zamfara and other states of the federation were not only worrisome but heart-wrenching.

“The 2023 election is not like any other election. What Nigerians need is a unified and peaceful nation. We need a Nigeria of equal opportunity for all across board. With the right leadership, Zamfara State with all of its abundant natural resources will be the richest state in Nigeria.

“An average of 20 People are killed in Zamfara daily, this cannot continue, the life of every Nigerian matters. For me, as an aspirant, wherever I have worked, peace steps in; wherever I step in there, is equity and fairness. I will make sure that the security of lives and property returns not only to Zamfara State but the whole of Nigeria,” he said.

Hayatu-Deen, while speaking to PDP House of Representatives caucus, said he has the strength and capacity to rescue Nigeria and reform it.

“With my motivation, my background, experience, and as somebody with a proven track record of transformation, I will go in and unlock that switch, turn it on again, and take this country to the stratosphere. Nigerians are phenomenal people.

“The entrepreneurial energy that flows through the veins of Nigeria, is unparalleled. I can only compare to the United States, because the human intelligence in this country is unbelievable.

“But there are barriers that are holding us back. I will roll back the frontiers of government and give expression and hope to the Nigerian private sector, represented by small, medium, large scale industries, to actually come in and play the rightful part by incentivizing them and removing all manual controls and obstacles.”
In his response, Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, urged Hayatu-Deen not to relent in his efforts to rescue and reform Nigeria.  

“I want to plead that you will continue in that strive. Nigerians are waiting for us, they’re calling on us to come and rescue or rebuild Nigeria. Well, we can only do that if we also put ourselves in a position that Nigerians hope to see us, to rescue them and bring them back to where our founding fathers had wished that we should be,” he said.