A former governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, has said Nigerians cannot be deceived by the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the party’s presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, over his health ahead of the 2023 general election.

Aliyu said Nigerians know the candidate who he is mentally and physically capable of ruling the country.

The former governor said this at a campaign to garner support for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Ladi Adebutu, in Abeokuta, the state capital on Monday.

Addressing the crowd of supporters at the rally, Adebutu said the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, remains the healthiest candidate among those vying for the presidency.

“I was looking through newspapers today and I saw a picture of somebody trying to prove he is healthy. If there is health, we don’t need to tell people that we are healthy, but we are aware that Atiku is the healthiest of the presidential candidates in this country,” Aliyu said.

He noted that only Atiku can rescue Nigeria from Boko Haram, bandits, and other security challenges bedevilliing the country.

READ ALSO: Adebutu: Why Yoruba should support Atiku in 2023

Aliyu said: “We need security and only an Atiku presidency can reclaim our land from Boko Haram, can reclaim our land from bandits, from IPOB and all other bad people that are making our lives difficult.

“It is only an Atiku presidency that can restructure Nigeria. There must be a state police so as to ensure security in the local areas, only an Atiku Abubakar presidency can do that.

“The economy is bad, there is extreme poverty in the land, therefore, members of PDP and fellow Nigerians, on the day in February, elect Atiku Abubakar because the development of any nation depends on the education of that country.

“You have seen what has happened to us, today our students in the public universities have been at home for more than seven, eight months.

“Our secondary schools many of them are so dilapidated that they cannot serve as secondary schools. Our elementary schools, there is no country that has over 20 million children out of school and you expect to be developed, only an Atiku Abubakar presidency can help us solve this problem.

“We have become the poverty capital of the world, that should not be. We are expected to everyday produce 2.1 million barrels of crude oil, but only last month, we were able to produce 900,000, it has gone as low as 600,000. What is happening to the rest, some people are stealing it, are we saying that the current government does not know those who are stealing it? They know, therefore, voting for Atiku Abubakar is saving, is rescuing, is developing Nigeria.”

Others at the rally were former Governors Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano) and Boni Haruna (Adamawa).

The Star