Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on Nigerians to support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the nation prepares for the forthcoming general elections.
He accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of failing to secure the people and their property, as well as worsening the economic situation of the nation.
Addressing a gathering of PDP supporters on Saturday in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, Atiku claimed, “My fellow Nigerians, the government of APC has failed. It has failed to unite Nigeria.”
“Today, we are more divided than any other time in the history of this country. APC government has destroyed our economy. They took over an economic growth of seven per cent and brought it down to less than two per cent,” added.
The former Vice President, who used the occasion to flag off his presidential campaign, promised to revamp Nigeria’s security architecture and fix the economy if elected as president.
He was also hopeful that he would defeat President Muhammadu Buhari and reclaim power from the APC if he was given the PDP ticket.
“What the PDP is going to do is to restore our economy, unify our country, and to ensure we have security of lives and property,” he noted.
Atiku had left the PDP to join the APC in February 2014, after he lost the 2007 presidential election on the platform of the then Action Congress.
He later contested against President Buhari and three others for the APC ticket in the build-up to the 2015 general elections.
Having lost again to the President in the APC primary in 2014, the former Vice President reportedly collapsed his structure to support President Buhari in during his presidential campaign.
He consequently announced his defection from the ruling party through his aide, Paul Ibe, and returned to the PDP in 2017.
