The campaign organization stated this while praising the people of Kogi State for turning out in massive numbers in support of its candidate, Atiku Abubakar, at the State Rally held in Lokoja on Saturday.
The massive support shown by the people of Kogi State, particularly the youths, for Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), confirms their determination to vote for Atiku Abubakar as Nigeria’s next President.
Our campaign is grateful for the support of various groups, including professionals in various fields, government employees, traditional institutions, faith-based groups, the business community, traders, artisans, transporters, and farmers, among others, for Atiku Abubakar and the PDP.
The people of Kogi State amply demonstrated that Kogi, like the majority of the federation’s states, is home to the PDP and that Atiku Abubakar will record a sweeping victory across Kogi State and others to emerge victorious at the close of the presidential election on February 25th.
Our campaign salutes the courage, resilience, and energy displayed by the State’s youths at the rally, which signals their readiness to turn out in large numbers to vote for Atiku Abubakar on February 25, 2023, and to defend their votes to the bitter end.
The people of Kogi State, like the majority of millions of Nigerians across the country, have rejected the inept, violent, corrupt, and anti-people All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and are eager to vote for Atiku Abubakar and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which embody their hope, aspiration, and determination for a better nation.
The Campaign calls on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to take note of the majority of people’s feelings and aspirations and to take steps to ensure free, fair, secure, and credible elections across the country.
The Atiku/Okowa Campaign, on the other hand, urges Nigerians to continue mobilizing for Atiku Abubakar ahead of the elections, while also reminding those who have yet to pick up their Permanent Voters’ Cards to do so in order to end the misery that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has come to represent.
In a related development, Mr. Phrank Shaibu, Waziri Atiku Abubakar’s special assistant on public communication, has stated that Tinubu is the worst civilian governor in the history of Lagos State.
“Tinubu cannot be the best product from Lagos,” Shaibu said, referring to Lateef Jakande, who was governor from 1979 to 1983. That honor belongs to Lateef Jakande, a disciple of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Jakande designed and built the Lekki-Epe Expressway from the ground up, effectively opening up the Lekki Peninsula axis. Jakande built the Alausa Government Secretariat and Governor’s Office, as well as the Lagos State University and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).
“He built all the low-cost housing units in Lagos. Low-cost estates can be found in Amuwo-Odofin, Ijaiye, Dolphin, Oke-Afa, Ije, Abesan, Iponri, Ipaja, Abule Nla, Epe, Anikantamo, Surulere, Iba, Ikorodu, and Badagry.
“Jakande constructed all of the general hospitals in Gbagada and Ikorodu, as well as LASUTH. He also constructed 20 health centers throughout the state. Jakande also built the majority of Lagos’ primary and secondary schools, which still stand today.
“According to available records, Jakande built 11,000 classrooms between March and August 1980, and by 1983, he had built over 22,000 classrooms with 40 students per class. In order to demonstrate his passion for education, the then-governor established a Teacher Training College and a College of Education (COE).”
Despite inheriting an empty treasury from the military, he declared free education at all levels. Not only was schooling free, but he also gave students free educational materials like textbooks and exercise books.
Last year, the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria perfectly captured Jakande’s legacy when it stated, “No governor in Lagos has been able to match the achievements of the late Jakande in the educational sector… His housing policies have remained a point of reference for successive governments to this day.
“He was such an outstanding administrator that his tenure as governor continues to serve as a barometer for good governance in the state.”
All of this he accomplished in just four years. Furthermore, until his death, the late Jakande lived a modest life on Coker Street in Ilupeju, refusing to monopolize state resources.
Because the short-lived third Republic that produced Michael Otedola lasted only a year, it cannot be evaluated fairly.
But, as governor of Lagos, what did Tinubu accomplish? He claims to have met an internal revenue target of N600 million in 1999 and increased it to N5 billion per month.
The CDD Election War Room fact-checked this and discovered it to be false.
“Data from the Central Bank statistical bulletin, as quoted by the Research Academy of Social Sciences, showed that Lagos generated N14.6 billion in 1999,” the verdict states. This amounts to N1.22 billion on a monthly basis.”
Tinubu also claims Lagos was a “jungle, an uncivilized place” when he took over in 1999. This is completely false, as Lagos has been the stock exchange and private sector headquarters since the 1960s.
His claim that when he took over in 1999, the entire state had only one ambulance is also impossible to believe and, at best, speculative.
Tinubu’s strategy is founded on deception. He paints a bleak picture of the Lagos he inherited, describing it as a jungle, and then exaggerates the few accomplishments he has made in his eight years in office, but Nigerians must not be duped.
Jakande built several low-cost housing estates in four years, reducing the state’s housing problem while Tinubu was in charge. According to the World Bank, two out of every three Lagosians live in a slum. Is this the kind of growth he wants to see at the center?
In contrast to Jakande, Tinubu relocated the Lagos State Polytechnic in Ketu to Ikorodu and then appropriated the land for TVC, his television station. There is, indeed, a distinction between leaders and dealers.
