Saraki obtains PDP Presidential nomination form

Nigeria Senate President, Bukola Saraki Friday obtained the Presidential Nomination and Expression of Interest forms from Nigeria Opposition Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Senate President on Thursday formally declared his decision to contest the 2019 presidential election during a dialogue with youths and young aspirants convened by the Not Too Young To Run Movement in Abuja.

“This afternoon, the Director General of the Saraki Presidential Campaign Organization, Hon. Mohammed Wakil, obtained the Presidential Nomination and Expression of Interest forms from the PDP Headquarters on behalf of Presidential Aspirant, Sen. (Dr.) Abubakar Bukola Saraki,” said Saraki’s spokesman Olu Onemola.

Saraki who recently defected to PDP will be contesting for the party’s Presidential ticket against other aspirants like, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former Kano state governor, Rabi’u Kwankwaso, who also declared his ambition on Wednesday in Abuja.

In his address at the Sheraton Hotel in Abuja during a #NotTooYoungToRun event, Saraki said he was contesting because President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance as the president has been woeful.

“Hunger, lack of education and lack of opportunities push many Nigerians into criminal activities including terrorism,” he said.

“Many of our communities are paralysed with fear – due to incessant communal crises, kidnappings and other social ills, as well as the threat of terrorism.

“We are failing abysmally to tackle the problems of today and to prepare for the future.”

As Nigeria’s election seasons draws closer, Saraki said the country is faced with the choice of either maintaining the status quo or make a radical departure from the old ways.

Speaking to a youthful audience, the Senate president struck a tone of being in tune with the yearnings of Nigeria’s large army of young people, some of whom President Buhari referred to as “lazy youth”.

“A lot of them (Nigerian youths) haven’t been to school and they are claiming, you know, that Nigeria has been an oil-producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing and get housing, health care, education, free,” Buhari said.

But Saraki said his government will be driven by “youthful energy”.

He also promised to re-engineer the country’s infrastructure, reposition the economy and redesign the country’s “security architecture”.

Although he has been accused of being corrupt at different times without a conviction, the former Kwara State governor said he will launch an anti-corruption campaign that will not be selective.