S’East Businessmen Support Tinubu’s Presidential Bid with N1bn
* APC campaign targets northern farmers, traders, others
Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has revealed that some 2,000 South East businessmen, have donated the sum of N1 billion to support the campaign of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asíwájú Bola Tinubu.
Director of Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, stated this in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja.
At the same time, the Bola Tinubu/Kashim Shettima campaign council, has said it has designed plans to engage farmers, traders and other economic stakeholders in the north.
But Uzodimma, who disclosed what happened in Owerri, when Tinubu visited for a town hall meeting between with business leaders in the region, said membership of the group was drawn from the five states of the region.
The governor said, “I am happy to say our people are fully in support of our presidential candidate, who has come to share his vision and plan for Nigeria and South East today. To support this aspiration, the sum of N1billion naira has been raised by 2000 business owners across the South East states.”
The spokesman for the group, Emeka Mgbudem, said the group believed in Nigeria and was committed to her peace, adding that members contributed N500,000 each, because they believed in Tinubu, after reading his Action Plan for Nigeria, saying where an Igbo man put his money, he put his heart.
Responding, Tinubu pledged to introduce technology in the clearing of goods at the ports that would render unnecessary the checkpoints on the roads and also promised to run a government where all Nigerians were treated equally.
Meanwhile, the director, Trade and Economic Directorate (North) of the APC campaign, Senator Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki, while inaugurating the 96 member of her committee, said, “I Saraki, who also serves as the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, said they will focus on the northern belt, which spans a land mass of 281,872 square miles, home to great farmers, skilled crafts men and astute traders.”
She explained that Tinubu has demonstrated that he was an engine for prosperity, and that, “The focus of our directorate is the northern belt, spanning a land mass of 281,872 square miles, home to great farmers, skilled craftsmen and astute traders.
“Northern Nigeria, has a rich historical heritage in trade that dates back to the trans-Saharan trade route, when the region was a bustling flourishing trade-hub that marketed goods that found its way to European shores.
“Today, the region which hosts one of the biggest markets in the country; the Kano market remains a potential rich economic-base, which with the right support and policies can transform the lives, the community and the region as a whole.”
