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Makarfi, Akwa Ibom governor seek credible presidential candidate for PDP in 2019 poll

By Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna
04 July 2018   |   3:01 am
A presidential aspirant on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform in the 2019 elections, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has sought a credible candidate that would wrest power from President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi

A presidential aspirant on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) platform in the 2019 elections, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi, has sought a credible candidate that would wrest power from President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Makarfi, a former Governor of Kaduna State and erstwhile PDP caretaker committee chairman, who visited Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel and other party stakeholders in Uyo, pointed out that the party could not afford to field the wrong candidate for next year’s poll.

In a statement issued by his spokesman, Mukthar Sirajo, he told Governor Udom that there was the need for institutional restructuring of the country, noting that the nation’s security apparatuses should be revived to serve the people’s interests.

Besides, he said to address the problem of unemployment in the country, students should be provided with loans to pay back when they were employed.Determined rescue the country from the brink and salvage it from its current challenges, he argued that this would force the government to create jobs so as to recoup their money.

Makarfi, who described his visit to the state as a home-coming because of the battles he fought with Udom and the state Chairman of the PDP for the soul of the party during the trying moments, said: “Whoever stands with you in such crisis must be a friend indeed.” He charged the state’s delegates to choose wisely from the many qualified aspirants to Aso Rock Villa, taking into consideration their antecedents as well as contributions to the party.

He insisted that the party do not have the luxury of picking the wrong candidate at this time, stressing that the party needed to close ranks after the primaries to ensure its success at the polls.

Udom commended Makarfi for his contributions to the survival of the PDP over the years, adding that he was not surprised at Makarfi’s dexterity in managing crisis in the PDP, having successfully managed Kaduna State, which he said, was like the microcosm of Nigeria.

“We can’t forget your patience and tolerance. You have an unusual way of accommodating our diverse opinions and bringing everybody together. If we did not have somebody like you, PDP would have been no more.

“When you were governor in Kaduna, you broke barriers and created an atmosphere of unity,” Udom stated.Responding, state Chairman of PDP, Obong Paul Ekpo, said the decision of the party leaders to saddle Makarfi with the process of repositioning the party during its hour of need was one of the wisest moves the party made in its existence. He argued that this was because his deft and mature handling of the various contending tendencies was what saved the party from total collapse.

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