The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has said the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) will be voted out of power by Nigerians in 2023 because it is a part of alliances.

Atiku stated this in Abuja on Thursday at the inauguration of the PDP Youth Campaign Council, an arm of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP-PCC). He said the PDP is the only truly democratic party in Nigeria saying the APC is only an alliance of political parties which will collapse during next year’s general elections.

Nigerian Tribune recalls that APC, formed in February 2013, is an alliance among the then leading opposition parties, the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) along with a breakaway faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the new PDP, a faction of then ruling People’s Democratic Party (nPDP).

According to the PDP presidential flagbearer, the PDP under his government will restore Nigeria’s lost glory which has been bastardized by the ruling APC, secure the lives and property of all Nigerians and move the country to the path of economic recovery. The former vice president called on the members of the PDP Youth Council to go through the nook and cranny of the country, the polling units, wards, local and states and sell the PDP to all Nigerians.

“To be honest, PDP is the only political party, APC is not a political party, it is an alliance between the CPC and Tinubu’s party, and we have seen how alliances in this country have disappeared overnight, I don’t think APC would survive after this election, we are going to vote them out and by the time we vote them out, they will be dead.

“We (PDP) are 25 years now, so we have succeeded in laying the foundation for a sustained democracy in our country. You (the YCC) have a legacy to be proud of by being a member of this political party. Let me, therefore, charge you with the responsibility of making sure that you carry the message of the PDP to the nooks and crannies of the country.

“Let me congratulate the members of the PDP Youth Campaign Youth Council for being inaugurated today. PDP is making history in the sense that we are the first political party in the country to inaugurate a youth Council. But this is not a surprise because we are the oldest political party in the history of Nigeria, since the creation of Nigeria, there has never been a political party as old as PDP.

“Also fundamentally, the message of sustained democracy. This democracy some of us fought for it, all our lives. Many of us have sacrificed our lives and today, you have freedom of speech, movement and freedom of everything simply because some of us have sacrificed our lives to make sure there is democracy in this country. This is the fundamental message we are expecting you to take to all the nooks and crannies of your Constituency. The Youth Council is another step to further enthroned democracy, and sustain democracy in our country through our own political parties. Therefore I charge you to mobilize all Nigerians in particular PDP supporters.

“Let me tell you, no matter your background, PDP will give you the opportunity to be anything you want to become in life. Because of my five programs, I sat down by myself to write them, I did not give them to any professor or Doctor to write them for me. If you study those points from National Unity to Security to Education, you will find out that they seamlessly interconnect with each other. Therefore I want to assure you that no matter your background PDP will help you to achieve your aspirations in this country. Even if Atiku goes another Atiku will come.

“The members here are representatives of the youths across the country who are in millions, who are the most voters in this country, you have a responsibility and it is not a small one. Each and every one of you should go back to your state, local government, wards and polling units and mobilize the youths. Give them hope that all is not lost. APC has dashed the hope of Nigerians in the last seven years and we do not expect that they will be any change in the next five to six months. We expect you to go back to your Constituency and take this job seriously, it is about your future, the future of your children, and family and the future of the country,” Atiku said.

The Director-General of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, called on the youths to rise up and save the country from total collapse. Tambuwal said it is time for Nigerian youths to come together and unite to rescue Nigeria from the ruins the APC has subjected the county to in the past seven years.

Inaugurating the YCC, PDP national chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, represented by the Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagum, said the time has come for the youths to take over and rebuild the country. He however cautioned them to tread softly and not to engage in violence or any action that will jeopardize the conduct of the 2023 elections. He said the youths should be more concerned about issue-based politics and campaigns and not be involved in acts that will drag the country back.

PDP vice presidential candidate and Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, said the list of those in the YCC has shown that there is a great future for Nigeria while he expressed optimism that PDP will take over power in 2023. He said Nigeria in the past seven years under the APC is not what everyone was looking out for saying with PDP and Atiku in power from next year, Nigeria is on her pathway to economic recovery where youths and women of competence will be part of Atiku’s presidency.

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakub, had announced February 25, 2023, for Presidential and National Assembly elections while the Governorship and the State Assembly elections will hold on March 11, 2023. (Nigerian Tribune)

Update news