Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says members of the party who may want an appointment or contract from his government, must win their polling units during the election.
At a town hall meeting he hosted with party members and stakeholders on Wednesday in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, he made this statement.
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The former vice president advised party members to return to their local areas and try to help the party win the election if they wanted the PDP to take back power in May.
Iyocha Ayu, the PDP national chairman, Bukola Saraki, Namadi Sambo, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the former governor of Osun State, and Ademola Adeleke, the governor of Osun State, were all in Atiku’s entourage at the meeting.
Others were Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, former governor of Cross River State, Lyel Imoke, former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, governorship candidate of Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, and the governorship candidate of Lagos State, Jide Adeniran, popularly known as Jandor.
Atiku said: “The fact that you are following the gubernatorial candidate or the senatorial candidate or the House of Representatives candidate or the presidential candidate to campaigns is no qualification that you will get an appointment, it is not a qualification that you will get a contract, whether at the local government level, state or the federal level.
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“The only way, as far as I am concerned, if I am president, if you come and say you want a job or you want a contract, I will ask you let me have the result of your polling booth and that is what I am going to direct to everybody, because unless we do that we will not win the elections.
“You are all members of the PDP and supporters of the PDP, you want PDP to return to power, please I beg of you make sure you win your polling booths.
“You cannot be following the governor all the place or the senator all the place and then you don’t win your polling booth and you come and say you want to be a minister or you want to get this contract.
“So please, as members of our party, let us make sure that we go back to our constituencies and make sure that we deliver our polling units”.
While addressing supporters at a rally, Atiku called on residents of the state to vote out the All Progressives Congress (APC) both at the state level and at the national level.
“The APC government has failed us and therefore it is our responsibility to make sure that they do not return to power”, Atiku said.
Also, speaking at the rally, Mr Ayu accused the APC of always shutting the PDP out of public places for rallies.
Mr Ayu cited Ekiti where the state government allegedly shut fuel stations, stadiums and other public places.
It will be recalled that the PDP eventually used the Ake Palace ground as the venue for the state rally after the Ogun State government refused them access to the MKO Abiola stadium, saying the stadium was under renovation.
Efforts to speak with the Ekiti governor’s spokesperson, Yinka Oyebode, were unsuccessful as his phone was not reachable.
At the rally, the party’s national chairman presented the flag of the party to the governorship candidate, Mr Adebutu.