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AGAIN!: Atiku Blasts President Jonathan

Published

10 years ago

November 10, 2014

Former Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has again blasted President Goodluck Jonathan–led federal government.
The former vice president while speaking at the weekend during the commissioning of a 32-bed hospital built by a member representing the Ekiti Federal Constituency 1 in the House of Representatives, Hon. Bimbo Daramola, at Ire Ekiti, Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti state, described the rot in the system as the most inept in the history of Nigeria.
Atiku, who is a presidential aspirant under the platform of the All Progressive Congress, APC, condemned the state of the country’s economy saying; “Nigeria is sick under Peoples Democratic (PDP) misrule and there must be serious efforts to salvage it.”
He said the wealth of the country would have been better managed if competent people were being elected into positions of authorities, especially the presidency.
“Certainly, Nigeria is not healthy. When you look at the economy and insecurity in the country, you will know that certainly, Nigeria is not healthy. The only thing that can salvage Nigeria’s situation is to seize the opportunity to bring about a change by voting in APC,” Atiku said.
The former number two man posited that it was rather irresponsible of the PDP to ask the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to resign from his position for defecting from the party to the APC.
Atiku, who commended the building of the hospital, urged the people of Ekiti State not trade their future for a bag of rice.
“I believe the people of Ekiti surely don’t need stomach infrastructure. Would you forego education for stomach infrastructure? Would you forego healthcare for stomach infrastructure? Would you forgo infrastructural development for stomach infrastructure? Today Japan is the third economy in the world. They don’t have the farmland that you have in Ekiti but they have education and technology. Anybody who is telling you all you need is a bag of rice say no. Not Ekiti people,” Atiku said.
The former vice president further revealed that if not for free education, he would not have achieved all he did and became the country’s vice-president.
Speaking also at the event, Hon. Daramola explained that he built the hospital to pay the people back for the trust they had in him, adding that the move was also a way of improving the awful low life expectancy among exploited masses.
The lawmaker, who unveiled the name of the hospital to be ‘Joan Taiwo Daramola Memorial Hospital, Ire-Ekiti’, revealed that he named it after his late mother. He said the facility is expected to be managed by the Anglican Church that owns and runs Ile Abiye Hospital in Ado-Ekiti.
Also addressing the people, former Governor of the State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and his predecessor, Mr. Segun Oni, urged the people to make infrastructural development their priority, rather than stomach infrastructure.
“For us as progressives, health is wealth. The health of our people matters to us than simplistic and populistic sharing of public money,” the duo said.
The ex-governors expressed optimism that the facility would improve the life expectancy of the people.
It would be recalled that the former vice president who has been taking continuous swipe on the PDP- led Federal Government, recently revealed that Northern Nigeria has the highest rate of illiteracy in the nation with 70 percent of the north not educated.