By Ben Ogbemudia, Abuja
Borno State-born ex-banker and economist, Mohammed Hayatudeen, and Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel, yesterday obtained their expression of interest and nomination forms from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Secretariat, Abuja, thus swelling the ranks of contestants in the primaries for the presidential race billed to hold in May, 2022.
Addressing journalists, Hayatudeen said he is more concerned about the security situation in the country, especially from where he came from, Borno State.
He added that the spate of banditry and kidnapping bedeviling the country has become an industry in itself, in the last few years.
“Imagine a Nigerian man, who cannot boast of N20,000 a month, suddenly getting an opportunity to walk away with N10 million, because he is involved in kidnapping people for ransom.
“The more they do this, the more they get uncertified to do more. The capacity of the law enforcement agencies and the military to cope with this problem has been challenged.”
He added, “One, they are not able to understand and deal with it, because it is not conventional warfare, with defined enemies, defined borders. These people are all over the terrain.
“Since we were demobilised after the civil war, we have never rebuilt or increased the size of the military, because we lived in relatively peaceful times.
“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary solutions. We need to build up the size of the military, retrain and re-arm them, and provide them with the motivational tools that they need so that they can fight this battle successfully.
On zoning, Hayatudeen said Nigeria has over 210 million people, and the constitution is very clear and all its relevant provisions, as to who is eligible to vote and be voted for.
He said the electoral law of the land is clear, as amended recently, that anybody among these 210 million people is free to vote for who they want, and to contest for any office. “We are governed by the constitution.
“I am not aware of any referendum for the Nigerian people to vote on zoning, zoning is a matter of convenience for certain leaders and for parties to discuss and agree among themselves, it is not an imposition that everyone is bound to abide by.
Also, the Brekete Family Worldwide, through their spokeperson, Innocent Orji, has said they have decided to purchase a presidential nomination form for Akwa Ibom governor, Udom Emmanuel, “because of his work in the last seven and half years in the state”.
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Founder of Brekete family, Dr Ahmed Isa, said, “Today is a new dawn in our country, Nigeria, because for the very first time in the history of Nigeria, this is the only time a group of people globally came together and said, change must take place come 2023.
“We are starting from this particular person today. That’s why we purchased one today for the person of Dr. Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom state. This is just the starting point,” he said.
“We traveled to Akwa Ibom and saw everything that he said (he did), and we even discovered that there are many he didn’t mention.
“As a result of that, we are of the opinion that if he can do that, in his own state, we have the opinion that he will do even better in Nigeria as a whole. Based on this, we said we are nominating him that we will purchase this form for his presidential nominee come 2023.”
