Atiku can’t be trusted with Nigerian economy again – APC Chieftain

National Coordinator of Buhari Awareness and Voters’ Guard, Engr. Kailani Muhammad, has said that there was no alternative to the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2019 general elections.

Speaking yesterday in Kaduna, Kailani added that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, cannot be trusted with the economy of the country, having severally failed Nigerians in the past.
 
He cited cases of financial misconduct leveled against Atiku while he was the vice president between 1999 and 2007.

According to the APC chieftain, while most Nigerians across board see Buhari as trusted, reliable and predictable, many doubt Atiku’s credentials because he has been enmeshed in so many fraudulent allegations.

Stating reasons why Buhari should be reelected for a second term, he said, “in the three and a half years in the saddle, despite the challenges, Buhari has impacted on all parts of the country through construction of 25 major roads and infrastructures in all the 36
states in all the six geo-political zones – through the N100 billion Sukuk Bond issued in 2017.

“For his foresight, the railway will soon be fully operational. Very soon, the Mambilla hydro power plant will generate 5,000MW electricity. The Anchor Borrowers Scheme has made hundreds of peasant farmers to become millionaires overnight. N2.7 billion spent on infrastructure in 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, an unprecedented allocation in Nigeria’s recent history.

“Nigeria’s economy is back on the path of growth, after the recession of 2016-17 (1.95 percent growth in Q1 2018), as the agriculture and solid minerals sector maintained consistent growth through the recession. External reserves rose to $47.5 billion, the highest in five years, 14 moribund blending plants revitalised under the presidential fertilizer initiative (PFI), with a total production capacity of 2.3 million metric tonne of NPK fertilizer.

“The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority in March 2018, invested $10 million to establish a world-class cancer treatment centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital and another $5 million each in the Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital  and the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia to establish modern diagnostic centres, expected to have been completed by now.”

Speaking on why Nigerians should not vote for Atiku, he said, “$16 billion entrusted in Atiku’s care for the power supply infrastructure upgrade disappeared into thin air and in 2007, the Senate panel, chaired by Victor Ndoma Egba and the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) indicted Atiku for diverting $145 million meant for the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) to various bank accounts linked to him between 1999 and 2006.

“He was indicted by former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro panel for sharing $74 million proceeds of the famous Halliburton bribe scandal to other top officials of the corrupt administration in which he served. Atiku collected N100 million from former Governor of Plateau state, Joshua Dariye, being state’s ecological funds.

“When Dariye confessed, former President Olusegun Obasanjo refunded his portion but Atiku held on to his own till today and his walking freely while Dariye is cooling off in jail,” he alleged.

He concluded by saying, “President Muhammadu Buhari has done exceedingly well and he is the only choice for 2019 that has the capacity and sincerity of purpose to salvage Nigeria from the brink of collapse.”

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