We’ll Defeat Buhari in Katsina, Says PDP
Party slams APC, presidency over pastors’ endorsement
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said it will secure electoral victory against the All Progressives Congress (APC) in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state, Katsina, in 2019.
The National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said his party would regain power in Katsina State in the next election.
A statement issued by the Special Assistant to the PDP chairman on Media, Ike Abonyi, quoted Secondus as saying during a rally in Katsina at the weekend where members of the APC who defeated to the PDP were admitted into the party that the woeful performance of the APC in the state and at the federal level makes victory in the state an easy one.
The PDP chairman said the populace in the state are anxious to see off the APC hence their slogan ‘let’s chase away hunger in 2019’ which to them is what the APC represents.
Secondus told a mammoth crowd of PDP members and supporters that Nigerians can no longer endure the suffering brought about by the APC administration.
He told the rally organised by the North-west zone of the party to formally welcome decamping members to the party that the APC has nothing to offer Nigerians.
“In Katsina State, APC has nothing to show outside what the late Umaru Yar’Adua and Ibrahim Shema did for you.”
“PDP is the only party that has the interest of the people at heart, it’s the only party that will guarantee national unity,” he told the crowd.
Meanwhile, the PDP has described the recent endorsement of APC and the Muhamadu Buhari presidency by some religious leaders under the auspices of Arewa Pastors as a stage-managed political gambit.
The opposition party said procuring individuals who masqueraded as religious leaders is a hypocritical and disgusting signs of desperation on the part of APC-led administration.
It said the Buhari presidency’s hiring of supposed Arewa Pastors was a second attempt to orchestrate fake endorsements ahead of the 2019 election, recalling the recent Martin Luther King Jr. saga.
They also alleged that huge amount of public funds have been earmarked by a cabal to procure endorsements for President Buhari.
PDP in a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, said both procured endorsements, which had turned out to be fake, are to say the least, despicable and that it betrays the nervousness of a sinking leadership, desperately trying to save its face, having been rejected by the people.
“It is heartrending that because of the desperation of one man, the integrity of Nigeria’s seat of power has again been ridiculed as the world watched religious bodies and groups in the country disowning the procured band.
“The fact that this disgraceful drama came barely a week after our country suffered an international show of shame over President Buhari’s presentation with a procured award fraudulently linked to Martin Luther King Jr, speaks volumes of this administration’s proclivity for falsehood and deception.
“Having failed to gain any endorsements from reputable international figures such as Bill Gates and the Martin Luther Kings Jr group, the APC and the presidency have now shamelessly resorted to cheaper ways and means, particularly along the unregulated and porous religious and sectional lines.
“It is now overtly manifest that the Buhari administration is ready to even stage anything, no matter how ignoble, including fake rescue missions, to deceive Nigerians.
“It would be recalled that the PDP had earlier alerted Nigerians of plots by the federal government to engage in orchestrated endorsements as well as issuing of false performance indices.
“These disgraceful endorsements are being coordinated by three presidential aides, a cabinet minister from the Southsouth and certain officials of the APC, a project for which billions of naira have been earmarked.
“This cabal is also responsible for the renting of crowds, who are usually conveyed in buses, trucks and trailers, to fill the space during President Buhari’s visits to various states of the federation, as witnessed in Benue State during the last visit of the president.
“That President Buhari could be begging for endorsements only points to the fact that he and his cabal have lost the support of Nigerians whom his administration has subjected to horrible economic hardships, traumatic bloodletting and a bleak future.
“If President Buhari and his dysfunctional APC had performed to the least expectations of Nigerians, even by implementing the littlest of their numerous fake campaign promises, they would have no need for mundane gimmicks of procuring awards from well known street quacks ahead of the elections.
“We charge all credible groups in the country to be at alert and resist any attempt by the presidency, and APC to induce them to compromise their integrity, as well as guide against plots to use money to infiltrate and divide their ranks.
“The APC and Buhari presidency must admit that their time is up as Nigerians are now rallying with the repositioned PDP in the national quest to rescue our dear country from the incompetent, failed and deceptive administration of the APC, come 2019,” the statement said.