A member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Chairman, DAAR Communications, Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi said on Wednesday that with the plethora of challenges facing Nigeria, there was the need for members of the party to project former vice president, Atiku Abubakar as its candidate in the 2023 general elections.
Dokpesi, who led a team of the party’s chieftains to Edo State for consultations with critical stakeholders on the possibility of fielding Atiku as its flag-bearer ahead of the party’s national convention, dismissed the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC as a failure.
Present at the meeting were Rolad Owie, former chief whip of the senate, Senator Ehigie Uzamere, Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Marcus Onobun, state chairman of the party, Tony Aziegbenmi, among others.
Rallying support for the former candidate of the party in the 2019 election, Dokpesi said “We have never been so divided as a nation; everybody now refers to us as the poverty capital of the world. All the indices clearly show that we are a failed state. “Even in Abuja, we are afraid of the possibility of invasion by Boko Haram, bandits, and unknown gunmen. The APC-led federal government, without mincing words, has failed totally in fulfilling the promises they made in 2015.” Also speaking, Uzamere said “Nigeria is at a very low ebb and needs a detribalised Nigerian to rescue the country, and that is Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Turakin Adamawa who is prepared to be president of Nigeria.
“Nigeria is in a disintegrating state. The Zimbabwean dollar has more value than our naira. It is not about age; it is about competence” Earlier during a courtesy call on the governor, Godwin Obaseki, the governor said only the PDP can salvage Nigeria from its present state.
It was gathered that Edo State is the 18th state the team had visited. They left Edo for Bayelsa in continuation of the consultations with major stakeholders in pursuance of the Atiku presidential project.