By Magnus Effiong
The wife of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hajia Titi Atiku Abubakar, has said she was giving scholarship to 50 Cross River state students in tertiary institutions who have proofs of brilliance and commitment to their studies.
Speaking in Calabar during a town hall meeting, Monday, Mrs Abubarkar said the gesture is to cushion the effect of economic hardship, which she alleged is masterminded by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Mrs Abubakar said her pet project SHE Campaign was targeted at improving the quality of lives of all Nigerians from their current sufferings, explaining “the SHE project stands for Security, Health and Education. We shall pursue the security of our nation with all vigour and work hard to ensure the protection of lives and property of our people.
“Our research indicated that over 10 million children are out of school while many families are passing through excruciating pains of treatable sicknesses. We shall reverse this trend through the SHE foundation.
“What I saw in Rome, Italy many years ago made me to tell myself that if God gives me an opportunity, I’ll help Nigerian children.
“And, when my husband became Vice President, I founded Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, WOTCLEF, by which National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking persons (NAPTIP) was created.
“From then, that is more than twenty years ago, I have been giving children skills and training many of them in tertiary institutions and those I train on skills, I also give starters packs and materials for them to stand on their feet.
“As we can all see, our children have become slaves in their own country, our young girls have been turned into prostitutes. I am concerned about their health and education. If our children are educated, they will not be misled and exploited.
“Let me announce that I am today giving free tuition to 50 Cross River State students who have done exceptionally well in tertiary institutions,” she stated.
Mrs Abubakar bemoaned the suffering the country was currently passing through and quipped: “We have become beggars in our country; APC must pack and go, the suffering is too much. We must vote for Atiku because he is a unifier. He is the only man to revive and bring back Nigeria’s lost glory.
“If you put Atiku in power, the hardship would vanish. Enough of this suffering and pains. We now buy our own Naira in our country, there is no fuel while a bag of rice which was a little above N7000 is now about N50,000. This must not be allowed to continue.”
In her remarks, The national women leader of the party, Prof Stella Efa-Attoe, charged Cross River State women to stand by and vote for the PDP, adding “Cross River is a PDP State. We have never voted for any political party since 1999. Even the Governor we have was a PDP governor before he absconded.”
Obioma Liyel Imoke, wife of the State’s former governor, who also spoke said “any vote which is not for Atiku Abubakar is a wasted vote. We do not need to do trial and error; we must go ahead and vote Atiku to restore Nigeria.
“Say no to APC and their broom. We do not need to campaign, APC has used their abysmal performance to do all the campaigning for us.”
The State Women Leader, Mrs Florence Inyang corroborated, adding “Cross River will Vote for good governance which only the PDP gives.”
