Tinubu: I’ll Resettle Benue IDPs, Clear Backlog of Workers’ Salaries

*Accuses PDP of sabotaging fuel supply

George Okoh in Makurd

The presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has promised to resettle all Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State camps if elected president in the February 25 presidential election.

Addressing a crowd of supporters at the Aper Aku Stadium, in Makurdi, venue of his presidential campaign rally, Tinubu promised to bring the IDP’s back to their family homes and end their misery. He vowed to clear the backlog of workers’ salaries in the state.
The APC candidate also accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of deliberately sabotaging fuel supply in the country as an avenue to blackmail the APC-led federal government.

From his prepared speech, which he did not read at the rally, Tinubu highlighted his achievements in Lagos State as governor, saying the Benue people should vote him. He insisted that the workers would not be owed salaries.

He stated, “I am proud of what we accomplished in Lagos. I am so proud of it, I did not run off to live elsewhere. I live where my policies and programmes worked. Obi left Anambra, because his policies and programmes failed. Just as we improved Lagos, we shall lead Nigeria to its greatest destiny.”

The APC candidate, who vowed to establish a loan scheme for students, further told the people that his party had come to give assurances of good governance.
Taking a swipe at his PDP rival, Atiku Abubakar, and asking about his source of wealth, Tinubu stated, “Atiku said he is a transporter as a custom officer but forgot that the only business you can do as a civil servant is farming.”
He accused the past PDP government of looting the country, saying, “16 billion was looted under the planned electricity transformation agenda and supervised by Atiku’s PDP.”

Tinubu said while in power, the PDP administration gave fuel retail licenses to their supporters and sympathisers, who were now hoarding fuel to create long queues across the country and make Nigerians suffer, adding that PDP is a Poverty Development Party.

“They met good oil prices for 16 good years, they didn’t remember gas pipelines, they are what I called saboteurs yesterday. They gave PMS license to their supporters and sympathisers. They are the ones who started creating fake queues. PDP, enough is enough,” Tinubu said of Atiku and PDP.

Speaking to the needs of Benue youths, Tinubu assured them that his administration would ensure access to quality education and education loans to allow brilliant and indigent students to have higher education. He promised to establish agricultural and industrial hubs, which would help to expand businesses and improve local incomes, promising also to make Benue a global leader in agriculture, and bring further income to the state.

Tinubu stated, “Rather than just growing food crops, you will package, process and brand food items for other African and global markets exportation. My administration will establish commodity exchange boards guaranteeing prices for important crops so that you are ensured a decent living for your hard work. On his agricultural plan, he said he will establish agricultural hubs and improve access to finance. Both of these will enable you to modernise farms operations, improve productivity while reducing labour through mechanised farming tools and modern technology.

“Working with the state government, we will encourage mining in the state in a regulated and sustainable way that benefits your communities and gives the labourer a just wage for his daily work. Limestone, lead, tin, and marble will be extracted and sold in Nigerian and foreign markets to stimulate the economy and enrich the people.

“My administration will also invest in the quality of our democratic governance and in what must be our democratic security. We have heard your pleas. We know of the insecurity, of the violent clashes and of the loss of lives and property.

“Our security agenda will work. It will protect the people and secure the land. My national security plan invests heavily in surveillance equipment, in technology and training of our security forces. We stop the terrorists, kidnappers, killers and bandits. We will mobilise the totality of our national security assets to protect all Nigerians from real danger and from the real fear of danger.”

Speaking at the rally, Minister of Special Duties and former governor of Benue State, Senator George Akume, extolled Tinubu’s leadership qualities and magnanimity. Akume charged Benue voters to vote for the APC candidate en mass, assuring them that they would not regret it.
The minister recalled his friendship with Tinubu since 1993 and called him a friend of Benue people that can be trusted.
While describing Tinubu and his running mate as persons free of extremist tendencies, Akume said, “When so many churches were destroyed by Boko Haram in Borno, he (Shettima) rebuilt many of them.”