The First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has appealed to Nigerian women to vote en masse for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the forthcoming presidential election because the brain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), is dead.
Speaking yesterday during the PDP women presidential campaign rally in Kogi State, she described Buhari as unfit to be the country’s president.
“Wetin him dey find again? Him dey drag with him pikin mate.”
“Old man wey no get brain, him brain don die pata pata,” she said in Pidgin English.
According to an online news medium, TheCable, moved by the cheers of the crowd, the first lady sporadically sang to taunt her husband’s main challenger at this month’s presidential election.
“If you vote Buhari, na your prison; if you vote APC, na your wahala,” she sang.
“What is change? Why did you not change things when you were there? Is it now that you want to be doing the things you weren’t doing before?
“Jonathan looked at us and said women, I am giving you the position of the chief justice of this country. Okonjo-Iweala is a woman, Diezani is a woman. Seventy per cent of his cabinet are women.“He also gave us the opportunity to start enrolling for the regular combatant course at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA).
“He wants continuity because he has vowed to do more. He places Nigerians in his mind and if he says he will do this, he will do it. So what are we looking for? If we women of Nigeria don’t appreciate Goodluck and we are looking for bus conductor, it is left for us.” Patience noted.
She urged the people to obtain their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) in order to participate in the election and also said her visit was meant to appreciate them.
“Remember that your vote is your power and it is good to vote wisely,” she said, adding: “Those of you who do not have PVCs should endeavour to collect it because whatever you are doing is meaningless without PVC.
“I thank you very much the people of Kogi. This time around, I came to thank you very well. I brought some gift for you, I brought rice, I brought meat, I brought brocade. I brought many things for you. It is not for election but to thank you very well.”
The state Governor, Mr. Idris Wada,;wife of the Senate President, Helen Mark; the PDP National Woman Leader, Kema Chikwe, were among those in attendance.
Also yesterday, Mrs. Jonathan, who was represented by the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Maina, distributed rice, fertilizer and wrapper to thousands of women in Sokoto State, saying President Jonathan was not behind the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east.
Addressing PDP women at the Giginya Memorial Stadium in Sokoto, the first lady maintained that there was no way the president would sponsor certain individuals to distabilise his administration because of quest for power.
According to her, Nigeria is not the only country affected by insurgency in the world, adding that Iraq was facing the same challenge of terrorist activities being perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
She emphasised that Boko Haram insurgency started even before the emergence of Jonathan as the president of Nigeria.
She said the ongoing war against the insurgents was succeeding, as many towns had already been captured by the military in the North-east.
Patience said the Jonathan administration had accorded priority to women empowerment, gave 35 per cent of the ministerial position to women as well as distributed free fertiliser and provided soft loans to women in the country.
The first lady further said it was in view of the need to empower women in the state that she distributed 1,200 bags of rice, 5,000 bundles of brocade, 5,000 wrappers, 800 blankets, 2,000 rubber mats, among others to the women in the 23 local government areas of the state.
She therefore, called on Sokoto women to come out en masse and vote for Jonathan in the forthcoming elections in order to continue with the transformation agenda.
In her remark, the former Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Inna Ciroma, said only PDP could save Nigeria and advised the women not to allow themselves to be deceived by the APC who are busy spreading false messages against Jonathan in the North.
She averred that Buhari would not bring the desired change in the country but lead Nigeria towards backwardness.
The Special Assistant to the President on Women Empowerment, Hajiya Ramatu Bala Usman, urged the women to pick their PVCs and cast their vote for Jonathan.
She noted that the North had produced many leaders who ruled Nigeria in the past but left the region in poverty, saying only PDP could salvage Nigeria.
Also speaking, the wife of the PDP governorship candidate in the state, Hajiya Aishatu Abdallah Wali, assured the first lady that Sokoto women would vote massively for Jonathan in the forthcomind election.
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