Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, says his experience in governance will make Nigerians vote him into power in 2023. 

The former vice president stated this during Sunday’s town hall meeting aired by Arise TV. 

“I started as a civil servant of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Though, when you come to the issue of civil service or bureaucracy, I have an experience of 20 years, and thereafter, I began my political career,” Mr Abubakar explained. “I fight the military to get out of government, and in other words, I fight for democracy. In the fight for democracy, I have gone through a lot of challenges—assassination attempt and going into exile.”

He also mentioned how he came “back and continued with the struggle” and was elected the governor of Adamawa, stressing that “because of my contribution to the party, I was nominated as the vice president, and we won.” The PDP standard-bearer stated this when asked why Nigerians should vote for him, not his opponent. 

Mr Abubakar added, “I believe since the return of democracy in the country, the party in which we formed performed wonderfully well, and up till now, there’s no other government that has performed as well as we have performed between 1999 and 2015 and with that experience as VP, I believed Nigerians cannot afford to hand over or elect any person who has less experience than I had got.”

The presidential candidate also cited his economic capacity as a player in the private sector, pointing to his involvement in the logistics and manufacturing industries.

“So, you cannot find me wanting as far as those areas are concerned. I believe that Nigerians should compare our government with the current government and see how we made this country better,” Mr Abubakar said. “We achieved tremendous economic success in this country, and we also achieved unity.” 

While reiterating that if elected, he was ready to “unify” the country, Mr Abubakar promised that security and the country’s restructuring would be his main priorities as Nigerians have been agitating for its implementation. 

“That’s why at the beginning, I pledged to unify this country because this country has never seen the type of division we now have. I said unity would be my number one top priority. And what I mean is it’s making everybody in this country have a sense of belonging,” said the PDP candidate. “And finally, to restructure this country because there has been a consistent agitation for the restructuring of this country. And I pledge I am going to implement it if I’m elected as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”