By: Admin
Ahead of the rescheduled presidential and national assembly elections slated for this Saturday, former Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio has cautioned people of the South-South against voting for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the party’s alleged plan to sell the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.
The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, it was reported had vowed to sell the NNPC to Nigerians, if elected.
However, Akpabio said it will not be in the interest of the Niger Delta people if NNPC was sold.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the Senator, who is the National Coordinator, Presidential Support Committee, also stated that considering the achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, Nigeria has no other better alternative than to give him another term.
According to Akpabio “Yes I believe Nigerians can compare the difference between apple and orange. The reality is that this president has done very well considering the fact that he was able to take Nigeria out of recession.
“He met ongoing projects on ground, such as the airports and the railways. He completed and put them to use. Nigerians are clamoring for change, better health care, better educational facilities and all those things cannot happen when you spend almost 80 percent of resources on recurring expenses like pension, salary arrears.
“So we must commend the President and of course, if you take a look at what is happening on the Lagos-Ibadan railway, you will be very impressed. Take a look at the Abuja-Kano railway, some people now travel with rail to the North.
“The power sector has improved from 2,500MW to 7000MW. So many things are visible and the enabling environment is there in terms of law and order. The fight against corruption has really been intensified and the good thing is that it has now become a deterrent to any public official that yes…, if you go out of your way to move your pocket forward instead of your country or state, you will be held accountable.
The former Akwa Ibom State Governor continued added that“We in the Niger Delta are very apprehensive. I don’t think that there is any person in the South South who will go and vote for PDP. Even some of them are trying to purchase votes because when you look at the major policy document of the PDP today, they are talking about selling the NNPC.
“What does the NNPC have? Is it the building? What NNPC controls is the oil of the Niger Delta, oil wells, oil fields and all those things come together with the land. I don’t see anybody from the South South or any Niger Deltan, who will agree that the same way we sold out Nigeria Airways and we became a laughing stock in the comity of states in Africa is the same way NNPC should be sold.
“Look at Kenya Airways, Ethopia Airline, Ghana Airline, South African Airways and Nigeria has no single plane now called its own. We sold out our Aluminium Smelter Company in Ikot Abasi, that provided thousands of jobs and today that place is totally bare with over 690MW of electricity.
“We sold out Oku Iboku Paper Mill in Akwa Ibom and our people are there jobless. That massive structure is a waste.
“The election also is between integrity and others. The President has shown that he can give what belongs to Niger Delta to Niger Delta. He is even refunding monies that were used during my tenure to repair Federal roads and what we use to call Paris Club refund.
“We tried everything under the PDP. We never had that money and I was a Governor and the FG was owing my state over 145 Billion on federal roads and the building of prisons and other things I had to intervene. I dualized federal roads, built airport and today, federal government is refunding those monies to the state.
“If you see a government that has shown sincerity, it simply means that we are now talking about a question of integrity and a question of postulation. We are postulating that if you bring in a government that will sell your father’s land, that will sell your oil wells and sell the waters that you use in fishing, then I can conclude that there is no alternative to President Buhari.”
