….our crisis will be over soon – Ayu

Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has promised to put an end to herdsmen crisis in Benue state if elected President of the country in the coming general elections.

He also promised to tackle the general insecurity in the state to ensure that Benue farmers who fled their farms and homes return back to their ancestral land.

Addressing the crowd that turned out at the Aper Aku Stadium, Monday in Makurdi for the PDP presidential rally, Alhaji Abubakar assured to reenact the prosperous years of the PDP if elected the President of the country in the coming election.

While comiserating with families who lost loved ones in the last seven to eight years to the armed herders’ crisis in the state, the presidential candidate said, “as the ‘Zege Mule Tiv’ the umbrella of the Tiv people all over the world, I promise you, if you elect me as your president, just like I did in 2001, when I came to Benue and made the Fulanis to sign a peace accord with their brother Tivs, I will come to make sure peace returns to Benue State.

“Benue is the food basket of this country and today our farmers cannot go to the farms becaue of insecurity, I will make sure security returns to the state.”

While promising to tackle unemployment among the youths of the country by empowering them through a $10billion intervention fund, he also promised to tackle the issue of interconnectivity of Benue state to other states of the federation.

He said “the infrastructural deficiencies you are facing in this state in terms of interconnectivity with other states will become a thing of the past because we will provide funding for both roads and railways to make sure our transportation system is once again working.”

He also promised to ensure the payment of salaries of university lecturers to put an end to strikes by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ ASUU.

Earlier, the National Chairman of the PDP Dr. Iyorchia Ayu urged Nigerians to vote the PDP to end the suffering of the last seven years.

He commended the people for rebuliding the PDP saying, “we must all come out on the day of election and vote for all of our candidates. Vote Atiku Abubakar and all our National Assembly members on February 25.”