2019: Buhari’s Blind Followers In North, Threat To PDP –Makarfi

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Makarfi, a Presidential aspirant of PDP, disclosed this in Ado-Ekiti Friday night during an interface with delegates ahead of the PDP national convention.

Especially, he said the PDP must not lose the North if the party must win the presidential election.

The former Kaduna State governor, therefore, admonished PDP stakeholders not rely solely on Social Media like its rival All Progressives Congress (APC) to run the party campaign, saying they must deploy workable strategies to sway voters in the north.

He admitted that President Muhammadu Buhari still has sizeable admirers whom he described as ‘Blind Followers,’ urging PDP leadership to make incursions to the north.

“We must work on the psychology of the Buhari’s sentimental followers in the north and change their mind towards us,” he said.

The PDP Presidential hopeful also warned his party against fielding a controversial figure as its presidential candidate, noting that doing so could make victory difficult in 2019.

He described the threat by Comrade Adams Oshiomole, the APC national chairman, for Saraki’s resignation to avoid impeachment by the APC caucus of the National Assembly, as mere diversionary tactics of a frustrated party helmsman.

He said that the removal of the Senate President remained a constitutional matter.

“We know the figures; the APC doesn’t even have the simple majority not to talk of two thirds to impeach Saraki. So, this call is diversionary. Senate President Saraki cannot be impeached because the figure to impeach him is not there and the APC can never get it.”

He promised to ensure institutional and holistic restructuring of the country to ensure that the Nigerian system works for one and all and meaningful development devoid of favouritism, nepotism and ethnicism are ensured.

Markafi reminded the delegates that he had restructured Kaduna State from the harmful grips of tribal sentiments and gross infrastructural deficit and underdevelopment and made the state a secure environment until “the APC government returned insecurity and underdevelopment to the state.

He said his past records as chairman of the PDP when he was able to ensure the survival of the party, and efforts as a member of the Senate Committee on Finance which demanded transparency on federation accounts from the Federal Government are part of his credentials that he can effectively put Nigeria into a better shape.

On his agenda, Markafi said, “First of all is the restructuring of the country to make it good for everybody; restructuring of the security and creation of jobs and infrastructure development in all respects and promoting the private sector so that it can become an effective employer of labour.

“We have also looked at some issues of protocol that we have which have a negative impact in the country. Any issue of protocol that doesn’t serve the national interest in terms of security, we will dialogue with other countries where they have got it right and restructure ours.

“I have been tested and proven myself as governor of Kaduna State as selected chairman of Committee finance, my records are there and as party chairman of PDP when people are not given the chance to make the party to survive, I was able to bring everybody together and ensured that the party survived and that is why many more people are defecting to PDP and they are all welcome.

“I am straight forward person and do not say one thing in the morning and turn it another thing in the evening.

“The problems facing Kaduna when I became governor are the problem facing Nigeria now, mutual distrust between tribes, poor infrastructural, economic and educational standards and others. We restructured Kaduna, people didn’t believe because the military failed them but we did. And that is why Kaduna Sadly, APC has returned insecurity to Kaduna.

“I built infrastructure which has now been destroyed by APC. Ninety percent of development in Kaduna were ensured by me.

“When I was in the Senate, we ensured transparency on the part of the Federal Government on the allocation of Federation Account which now made all state governors ask for accounts of the federation from which they have their share.

“We brought back PDP and made it now a threat to APC. I restructured Kaduna, and Nigeria needs restructuring. I am not talking politics.

I was the architect of the first political sovereign conference in the country as head of the committee under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“Institutional restructuring that would include the police, INEC and other security apparatus to ensure they do not serve the dictates of the paymasters will be done by me. Such will prevent anomalies such as the election fraud in Ekiti during the July 14 poll.

“We must make our institutions to be accountable. We will ensure comprehensive restructuring of this country. I chose to travel by road for all my campaign travellings by road are taking eighty percent of my tour. This is to enable me to see the deficiencies of our infrastructure, such as roads, the condition of our people and our environment among others.

“I want to be aware of all these things so I can perform properly and prepare for office better if voted in. We will also restructure power generation, what is on the ground now is unitary. We must liberalise it. Each state will be allowed to generate its own electricity.”

He urged the party to ensure a level playing ground as usual in order to allow an overwhelmingly acceptable presidential candidate to emerge.

Makarfi said, “We will close our borders if need be to prevent the influx of dangerous herdsmen killing our people. I will ensure herdsmen menace becomes history in a very short time.”