There was pandemonium Tuesday at the Unity Hall in Delta State Government House, Asaba over money allegedly released for People’s Democratic Party (PDP) delegates during the consultative visit by the ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
Trouble started shortly after Atiku exited from the meeting venue when irate youths pounced on the party officials whose duty it was to allocate money to various delegates from the 25 local government areas of the State.
The scramble for the money resulted in injuries as security men shot sporadically inside the hall.
Delegates in their desperation snatched huge bundles of money and made away with others in hot pursuit around the Delta State Government House grounds.
Security personnel attached to many party leaders shot into the air to scare away the youths as the situation threatened to degenerate.
An unidentified youth who was chased around the grounds and beaten up by youths as he tried to escape with wads of naira notes.
He was stripped naked and beaten to stupor.
Torn five hundred naira notes littered the grounds as desperate youths attempted to escape with the loot.
Several hours after the ex-vice-President departed from the venue, many youths loitered around the grounds hoping for more largesse.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar Tuesday harped on the need for restructuring of the federation to make progress.
A government house press release made available to The Nation stated that the former Vice President was in the state to consult the people on his aspiration for the Presidential ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Atiku disclosed that he has been in the fore-front for the restructuring of the country since 2004, stressing it will bring out the best among Nigerians.
Alhaji Abubakar had said that his aspiration to be Nigeria’s President was borne out of his passion to ensure that the country make progress, disclosing, “the security architecture of the country must be reviewed and decentralized.”
He decried situation where security agencies does not take orders from the state governors, asserting, “As an individual, I don’t think this is true federalism, we must restructure the security architecture.”
The former Vice President also listed ways to tackle unemployment in the country observing, “to create jobs, you must liberalize the economy, support the private sector, create incentives to make the private sector boom and open up the economy to foreign direct investment.”
“I will have a very small federal government with powers and resources devolved to the states to manage the affairs while they pay tax to the federal government; with this, each zone can survive on its own without leaning on oil money,” he emphasized.
Okowa commended Atiku Abubakar for engaging in consultation visit, assuring that delegates to the Presidential Primaries of the PDP will make their decisions based on acceptability, reach, experience and level of intelligence of the individual aspirants.
He urged the aspirant not to relent in moving to different states of the country, stating that more efforts should be made for the PDP to be in control of more states of the country to enable it clinch the Presidential position in 2019.
Others who spoke at the event include, former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, his Imo State counterpart, Chief Achike Udenwa, former Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, among others.
