Elections: Titi Abubakar Canvasses Support for PDP Presidential Candidate
Eme Offiong, Calabar.
The founder of Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF), Mrs Titi Abubakar, has urged women to vote for the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and one-time Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.
Mrs. Abubakar, who is also the wife of the former vice-president, gave the charge at a town hall meeting for women in Calabar, the Cross River state capital, South-south Nigeria.
Abubakar, who was accompanied by the wife of the PDP presidential running mate, Dame Edith Okowa, presented her three-point agenda tagged S.H.E., an acronym for Security, Health and Education, which she said was in line with the developmental programme of her husband and presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
‘S.H.E. is part of the 5-point covenant of Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate. We are of like minds.
‘Security and Education are priorities for him, as it is for me. As wife of the former Vice-President, I established WOTCLEF (Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation), which gave birth to NAPTIP (National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters).
‘It is a vision, which started in 1986 to cushion the sufferings of Nigerian children and women forced into trafficking and prostitution, without education and empowerment. For 23 years we have not stopped.
‘Atiku Abubakar is a unifier. He has plans to rescue, recover and restore Nigeria’s lost glory and with him, our S.H.E. project will be achieved,’ she assured.
Vote Rightly
Also speaking at the town hall meeting, the wife of the PDP presidential running mate, Dame Edith Okowa, urged women not to be deterred by the current economic situation, which, she noted, only the PDP could remedy.
‘Do not be deterred by what is happening today. Everything has gone sour in just under eight years.
‘However, I encourage you to move from your home come February 25 to your polling units with your PVCs (Permanent Voters’ Cards) and vote for the PDP.
‘A vote for the PDP is a vote in the right direction,’she stressed.
In her goodwill message, the PDP National Women Leader, Professor Stella Effah-Atoe, described the attendance of women groups at the town hall as a reflection of and reminder that Cross River remained a PDP state despite the movement of the governor to the opposition party.
‘Vote the People’s Democratic Party at the general election and ensure your votes counts by being careful how you cast the vote, and fold the ballot paper before putting it into the box. We do not want any void votes,’ the PDP National Women Leader advised.
Others who spoke were the wife of the former governor of Cross River state, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke; the S.H.E. Cross River Coordinator, Dr. Chioma Gershon Bassey; the PDP Cross River State Women Leader, Mrs Florence Inyang; and the Market Women Leader, Lady ATO as well as Miss Nella Andem Ewa, who represented the youths.
They all urged women to vote for the PDP presidential candidate and his running mate as well as the governorship candidate, Senator Sandy Onor and all other candidates of the party at the forthcoming general election.
The event climaxed with Mrs Titi Abubakar awarding scholarships to 50 indigent undergraduates and a reception for more than one hundred women, who defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Edited by Amaka E. Nliam
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