President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said his administration has fought corruption more than other past administrations in the country, asking the opposition All progressives Congress, APC, to tell Nigerians how it would tackle corruption if voted into power in the country.
► Jonathan spoke in Enugu while flagging off his second term re-election and governorship campaign at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium.
► The South East flag- off rally attracted a large crowd of party supporters from the five south east states of Anambra, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi States.
► Jonathan spoke in Enugu while flagging off his second term re-election and governorship campaign at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium.
► The South East flag- off rally attracted a large crowd of party supporters from the five south east states of Anambra, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi States.
The President, however, tongue lashed the presidential candidate of the APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, saying that the former head of state wanted power to throw people into jail as was the case in 1983, when he threw into jail, Igbo politicians like the former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, the former governors of old Anambra and Imo States, Chief Jim Nwobodo and late Chief Sam Mbakwe respectively among others out of sheer wickedness.
His words, ‘’Chief Alex Ekwueme; Sam Mbakwe were all thrown to jail by Buhari. Chief Jim Nwobodo was jailed 301 years before the successive administration released him. Corruption is fought by blocking loop h***s where public funds are looted from.
“We are fighting corruption through Information Commun-ication Technology,ICT. Our method is technology driven. We have changed the way we do government businesses. The fertiliser distribution scheme, which go directly to farmers is a key example.
“We have also modernised the system of salary disbursement through technology. This is one of the ways we are fighting corruption in the system. You do not fight it by locking people in Kirikiri and closing down their businesses. That is why the economy collapsed under Buhari’s watch.
GENDER FRIENDLY
Jonathan urged women in the country to vote for his re-election, saying that Buhari never appointed a woman in his cabinet as military head of state.
He however, commended the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, governorship candidate in Enugu State Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for towing his line by being a gender friendly governorship candidate.
Cecelia Ezeilo is the running mate of Ugwuanyi.
“Buhari never appointed any woman into his cabinet. Our women had all the qualifications and experience at that time. If you make the mistake of voting him, you will not be liberated. You will remain in the kitchen and die,’’ he said.
INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
Jonathan enumerated the achievements of his administration in the south-east geopolitical zone especially Enugu State to include the upgrading of the Akanu-Ibiam Airport to an international status saying that the airport would commence full international operations in 18 months.
“I visited the international terminal as I landed. I told the contractor handling the project to shorten the completion time so that our people who are commerce driven can fly to any part of the world from Enugu. We have flagged off the Enugu-Port Harcourt inter-city passenger mass transit train quiet recently.
“We have completed over 2,000 kilometres of roads in the region and built irrigation dams that will boost agriculture in the area. Our auto-mobile policies have been friendly that is why Innosson and ANAMMCO are now rearing up their heads; assembling cars in the state.
PVCs
The President assured Nigerians that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had been directed to issue Permanent Voters’ Cards, PVCs, to all registered voters nationwide to enable all voters exercise their franchise during the forthcoming election.
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