Aisha, wife of President Muhammadu Buhari is scheduled to formally launch an independent advocacy group supporting the re-election of President Buhari in 2019.

The group, known as Together Nigeria, according to the organizers, will be launched tomorrow, Wednesday, December 12 at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Together Nigeria is aimed at securing victory of President Buhari in the 2019 election and uniting all Nigerians under the vision he represents for a progressive, peaceful, and prosperous Nigeria.

The group has engaged in an extensive social media campaign to energize youths of voting age on President Buhari’s achievements since 2015, including anti-corruption efforts which have recovered billions from tax evaders and corrupt officials, and the delivery of Nigeria’s largest ever social investment and infrastructure programmes benefiting Nigerians across the country.

The launch is expected to be attended by supporters of the President from all walks of life, including icons of music and movies, political gladiators as well as key government officials.

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has said that the only way he would stop the menace of Boko Haram and other form of insurgents will be to provide jobs for the youths and other Nigerians.

Speaking at an interactive session with the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday, Monday in Abuja, Atiku explained that once the jobless youths who are idling away are given good jobs to do, the issue of insecurity will be taken care of.

According to him, instead of the present administration to provide three million jobs yearly as it promised, a total of 11 million jobs have been lost since President Muhammadu Buhari came into office in 2015.

He listed the retooling of the nation’s armed forces for better performance among other strategies that have been penciled down as means of improving the effective security network of the nation.

On power supply, Atiku said, he would adopt the “captive power strategy” where specific power stations would provide power supply for specific areas adding that the strategy would ensure availability of power supply across the country within his first two years in office. He said that a study has revealed that the adoption of captive power stations will yield greater results than reliance on gas to generate power. He also said that there were companies willing to provide power at affordable rate using the captive power strategy.

On how to revive the economy, he said that he would create the right environment that would attract foreign and local investors who ran away from the country due to harsh economic and investment climate.

Atiku observed that the private sector and not government should be the highest employer of labour and the main engine of economic growth.

He noted that Nigeria slipped into recession because of capital flight and attendant closure of companies in the country following government’s pronouncements which sent the wrong signals to investors.

He said that the clampdown on domiciliary accounts forced investors to massively withdraw, close accounts and move their funds elsewhere, adding that the impact of the capital flight was the closure of companies and loss of jobs.

On the inclusion of women and youths in governance, he said that 40 per cent of his cabinet would be made of youths, 35 per cent for women while the remaining 25 percent would be filled by older Nigerians, adding that he plans to hand over to a younger generation.

Speaking on nepotism, Atiku said “by my nature I am not like that” assuring that he would run an all-inclusive government devoid of any kind of cabal.

Speaking on how to reduce Nigeria’s high maternal mortality rate, Atiku said that his administration would promote healthcare delivery system that is comprehensive, efficient and can deliver effective and qualitative services to women. He added that his policy document which was launched in November 2018 details in full what was in store for women.

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, has cried out that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has listed critical players in opposition including himself, the PDP Presidential Candidate Atiku Abubakar, his Vice Peter Obi, the Senate President Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, other top party leaders and their associates for arrest on frame up crimes.

The PDP National Chairman, in a statement yesterday, Monday, warned that with such plan, “the country is in a keg of a gunpowder at the moment as a result of your hatchet job for the ruling government and I warn you to get away from this illegitimate job of using instruments of state to harass and intimidate opponents.”

In the statement, which was issued by his Media Adviser Ike Abonyi, the PDP Chairman said that available intelligence shows that former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio are presiding over clandestine meetings and developing strategies for the APC which is aimed at freezing critical leaders of the opposition.

He said that aside the arrest and detention of opposition leaders, their family members and business associates have been lined up for intimidation and harassment including freezing their business interests and their bank accounts.

Secondus described as an afterthought fabrication, the EFCC denial that the son of the PDP Presidential Candidate was not the target in the raid of an apartment housing him in Abuja insisting that the game plan privy to the party was clear on who was the ultimate target.

The PDP leader reminded Nigerians  that these acts of impunity is in continuation of the embarrassment they caused our Presidential candidate and former Vice President of this country on Novemeber 11, 2019 when he was thoroughly searched at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport by operatives of the state on his return from overseas on November 11, 2018.

“After that embarrassment and harassment which was aimed at intimidating the candidate and nothing incriminating was found on him, no apology was extended to him as a former number two citizen.

“They followed it up with the freezing of the Bank account of our Vice Presidential Candidate as well as that of his friends and family members as part of a large scheme to keep the party distracted from its focus of regaining power in 2019.”

According to the script, “PDP will be brought to their knees so that by January they would be finally grounded with their leaders framed up and put behind bars,” Secondus said.

He said that in the script, APC and the Federal Government believe that the party can only bark and not bite as observed in the case of Osun and Ekiti states while indeed they are set and determined for the worse rather than lose the election.

He warned: “while PDP believes and cherishes all ingredients of democracy including the rule of law, it cannot guarantee any situation that aims at cowing the opposition and thwart the will of the Nigeria people.

“Magu and other characters of his type who are willing to assist the APC in undermining democracy, to look back at history and know that the consequences are always not palatable.”

The PDP National Chairman called on all lovers of democracy and rule of law especially international community to rein in President Buhari, Magu and the APC to observe the tenets of democracy that respects the sanctity of the opposition and human rights.