The governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Bauchi State, Amb. Sadique Baba Abubakar has promised to re-engineer the political landscape to bring the needed development, if elected.
Abubakar stated this during the fundraising dinner and unveiling of his manifesto on Friday in Abuja.
According to him, over one million children are out of school in the state, with only 26 per cent school attendance.
“We have about 1,549 pregnant women that are dying every 100,000 births.
“These are terrible figures; and what we simply want to do is to re-engineer the political landscape in Bauchi State so that people will have a sense of ownership.
“The people must understand that the state is all about them and the only way you can do this is to reverse those terrible figures.
“We want to get these 1.4 million children back to school. We want to do everything we can to show support for our women and empower the youth to boost the employment rate in the state.
“By doing these, women and youths will have the skills and capacity to contribute to the development of the state,” he said.
Abubakar, who is also a retired Chief of Air Staff (CAS), decried the abysmal agricultural production in the state, stressing that he would re-engineer the process to boost productivity.
According to him, when agricultural production is high, industry would blossom and boost the economy.
On security, Abubakar said security has different dimension which include physical, economy and social security.
“This boils down to what I was talking about. It has to do with the opportunity of going back to school, having good health and capacity to involve in agriculture and make money.
“As soon as you tackle those issues, you will discover that it will impact positively on security. On the physical security, we are going to work with all security agencies and the narratives in Bauchi State will change for the better”.
In his remarks, former Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Ameachi described Abubakar’s candidature as God’s blessing to the people of the state.
“He has the fear of God and has a good character, so he will make a good governor. Hold me responsible, if he fails as a governor”.
Also speaking, former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Amb. Tukur Buratai said he had worked with Abubakar in Rivers, adding that he could testify to his capacity in security and protection of oil facilities.
“Now that Bauchi has oil, God has brought someone who has the experience in security and protection of oil resources. He has the ability to move Bauchi State forward”.
Similarly, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami urged the electorate to vote for Abubakar.
“The only good thing that the people of Bauchi could do to themselves is to vote for Abubakar”.
He recalled that in 2015; when President Muhammadu Buhari took over power, Boko Haram insurgents were in control of 17 local government areas of Borno, but Abubakar as Chief of Air Staff, decimated the terrorists.
“I urge us all to come out massively and collectively vote for him to move the state forward. I also urge you to support him sufficiently”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that highlights of the occasion was the unveiling of the 23-page manifesto and financial donations.
NAN reports that APC big wigs, ministers, former service chiefs, captains of industries, among others attended the event. (NAN)