By Jethro Ibileke
Nigeria’s former vice president and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has said that the All Progressives Congress (APC), is not an option for the 2023 presidential election.
This is even as he accused President Muhammadu Buhari’s government of misappropriating funds dedicated to education.
He stated this when he met with delegates of the PDP, in Benin City, ahead of the party’s national convwhere it’s the flag bearer for the 2023 presidential election would be elected.
The presidential hopeful who noted that the current problem challenging the country has multiplied under the party’s [APC] watch, promised to restore and proffer solutions to other problems bedevilling the country.
According to him: “I want to assure you that PDP will lift Nigeria from bottom to top. There are institutions established by our PDP Administration.
“We imposed an education trust fund so that we can distribute money to the state and local government, but this government has plundered the money to the extent our universities have been on strike for many months without earning salaries.
“PDP has done an excellent job in Nigeria. I was involved in the achievements of PDP because I was the chairman of the economic council of our administration. I used the best economists; I didn’t look at their ethnicity or religion. I was only after their talents to better Nigerians.
“Today, if you are not from a certain part of the country or religious faith, nobody looks at your face. This is criminal. I have what it takes to unify this country and I humbly submit to do it,” he said.
Earlier while addressing the State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, Atiku promised that will prioritize investment in education, adding that education would be key to his government if elected president.
According to him, “Investment in education is key for me and if you can recall what the PDP government did then in power, we created TETFUND, primary school education fund, and education tax to enable us to provide sufficient money for both state and local governments to enable them to have sufficient money to invest in primary and secondary education.
“We also passed the law to make education compulsory for every Nigerian child from primary to secondary school.”
He noted that the misappropriation of funds has affected the level of education and the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria is rising by the day.
On zoning, he noted, “We said in future, zoning decisions should be taken in six months before the commencement of primaries so it will be settled before anything else. The PDP is the originator of zoning and power rotation. Now that it is open, all aspirants have equal opportunities.”
Atiku said he will sit with the party to agree on a running mate for the 2023 presidential election.