The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has expressed confidence in the ability of their candidates at both the national and state levels to reclaim political power from the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), ahead of the February 25 and March 11 elections.
Hakeem Olalemi, the vice chairman of the Lagos central PDP, while speaking to reporters on Wednesday at the state secretariat in Lagos at the close of the General Assembly meeting of the Lagos State Chapter of the PDP, promised that the party was not only ready but confident of victory for Atiku Abubakar, its presidential candidate, and other candidates.
Olalemi assured Nigerians of the abilities of their candidates to deliver on campaign promises; he described Abubakar as a man on a mission to rescue Nigeria.
He accused the ruling party, the APC, of throwing the country into the current economic and security challenges.
He appreciated all the party leaders across the 20 local government areas for attending the grand campaign of the party to showcase itself to Nigerians.
Read also: How Atiku will resuscitate our economy, empower youths- PDP chieftain
“You can see that all party leaders across the 20 local government areas are here. And this is the first time we are doing this assembly since the assumption of office. We have been in office for just one year,” Olalemi said.
“This is the first time in the history of the Lagos State PDP that we have a democratically elected chairman and EXCO. We went through that election, which you all witnessed, and I promised every one of them that I would be honest in my administration.
“I will be transparent. I choose to remain with the grassroots. That is why we have this gathering, and today you can see that so many people have decamped from other parties… We just want to send a message to them that they should stand firm and work for the party, and that victory is sure by what they stand for and what they believe in,” he noted.
In a statement that likened Atiku to being the right candidate to shape the future of the youth in the country, the chairman said, “Yes, I’m saying this because I know who Atiku is. He is tested; he has done it before as vice president. We know PDP economy when he was the vice president. That is why I will only say what I know—the truth and nothing but the truth. I can tell you that Atiku with his five-point agenda to bring youths on board, women on board—even set aside millions of dollars to bring in investment from all over the world and other programmes, he has expressed.
“He put it in black and white; everyone can see it, not the copycat ones. I know that Atiku is being strengthened by God because he believes in the people. He believes in the devolution of power. He believes that when he gets there, the insecurity challenge will be a thing of the past because when you have a good government, the present challenge will vanish almost immediately, and when the economy begins to boom, people that are travelling out of the country will come back.”
He made reference to the good times of the former Lagos State governor, Lateef Jakande, who engaged a lot of Indians to develop the state, a situation that is in sharp contrast to the ‘JAPA’ phenomenon currently ravaging the country.
He added, “This is exactly what Atiku is going to bring back because other leaders who have had the opportunity to rule a state have destroyed the future of the people. I can state this as fact. How can you imagine some drug addicts leading this country?
“When they have debased humanity in Lagos State, what you see now is that you see people with sticks… intimidating people; there is no fear of God. This is what must be changed in Nigeria and Lagos State.
“By the grace of God PDP is going to national and going to take Lagos State.”
