PBA ReporterDogara Says PDP Candidate Most Prepared, Ready.
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has praised President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts aimed at curbing vote-buying ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He said he is not uninformed or unaffected by the hardship caused by the Naira redesign and swap policy but pleaded with Nigerians to endure it for a few weeks as sacrifice for a free, fair and credible elections.
He spoke on Friday in Yola during a Town Hall meeting organised by the Atiku/Okowa Campaign Organisation, with the theme: “Overcoming the fears of Same Faith Presidential Ticket 2023.”
See details of his remarks below:
I want to specifically commend President Buhari over the initiative to curb vote-buying in the forthcoming general elections. I am not uninformed of nor unaffected by the hardship caused by the Naira redesign and swap policy but I want to plead with Nigerians to endure it for these few weeks as sacrifice for a free, fair and credible election.
Its a life lesson: that just as injury has pains so also recovery has pains. But if we have to get healed, we have to endure the pains. I urge us all to trudge on in the hope that these pains may truly be the birth pangs we may endure for a New Nigeria to be born.
For those critising the president on the issue of timing, I want to remind them in the words of Dr King Jnr that time is eternally neutral and , “the time is always ripe to do right.“ let me end by calling on CBN to ensure the redesigned notes are made available to our people but even if the CBN failed to do so, my plea to all Nigerians is to endure the pains for few more weeks for our votes to count and for us to elect a president we truly deserve.
READ ALSO:Naira Scarcity: Violent Protest Erupts, As Gunshots Fired In Ojota Area Of Lagos
Let me emphatically say that the President has the sole constitutional powers over currency matters and all those busy running their mouths because they have been denied the opportunity to deploy the ill- gotten naira they have stashed to buy votes, that they are committing treason.
The president is absolutely right not to have given in to the greed of the few against the needs of the many. While the president is right to have acted on what he knows and in the best interest of the country, his traducers are petty, unpatriotic, treacherous and grossly irresponsible.
Therefore, Mr. President deserves our thunderous applause. Whoever writes it, history will be kind to Mr. President if he doesn’t give in or give up on his resolve to ensure a free, fair and credible democratic election no matter the cost on the 25th February, 2023 as scheduled by INEC.
Let me remind us that Nigeria is tottering on the precipice and for everyone who has ever wondered how the bottom looks like, this is it! No doubt these are moments of national peril! That is why we need a President who will hit the ground running from day one. If we love Nigeria, we cannot afford to foist a rookie on her as President.
Tell me if any of the candidates comes close to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in terms of readiness to hit the ground running from day one. In case you don’t know him, let me attempt the impossible task of introducing him to you.
HE Atiku Abubakar, the Wazirin Adamawa is a statesman like no other and a father in every sense of the word, Abba. He is a demonstrable source that gives life to everything around him.
- Give him pure water and he will turn it to Farro water
- Show him a Primary school and he will turn it into a world class university
- Show him a jetty and he will turn it into a world class port
- Give him a bull and a heifer and just few years and he will give you a herd
- Give him a bag of chaff and he will mill it into animal feed
- Give him a bottle of bala blue and he will turn the cream to farro juice
- Give him a home and he will bring Nigeria into it as family members
- Make him walk into an environment where there is contention and fight and see how they fade into peace.
That is the rich pedigree that HE Atiku Abubakar will bring to the table as president.
We need a steady hand not a hand that must always be steadied because only a steady hand can steady a volatile Nigeria. We need a hand on which nothing dies not the hand that spills everything that is placed on it if we do not want our collective national destiny to be spilled.
We need a grounded leader not a feckless pretender who has become a perfect gift to every level of comedy both local and internationally. By our votes, let us send a strong and clear message to those who want to foist this tasteless joke on us that Nigeria is no Comedy Cellar or Viva Blackpool.
It was Victor Hugo who reminded us that, “All the forces in the world are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” Atiku represents an idea whose time has come. By the grace of God, who alone gives power, Atiku will soon be president – elect and Mr. president by May. Let us go from here determined to be instruments in God’s hand to make it happen. Come on, friends, we are well able. See you on inauguration day!
Follow Us