Lagos PDP leaders and members demonstrate in support of Atiku on Ikorodu Highway

The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) held a rally titled: "Day of the Umbrellas" on Thursday, as party leaders and members strolled from Fadeyi to Maryland, closing a section of the Ikorodu highway to express their strong support for the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 poll, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Party loyalists, including former African Integration Minister Dr. Abimbola Ogunkelu; Chief (Ms) Aduke Maina, member of PDP BoT; Hon. Phillips Aivoji, Hon. Tolagbe Animashaun, Eng. Deji Doherty, President, Lagos State Presidential Campaign Chapter, Atiku-Okowa; Captain Tunji Shelle, also a member of the campaign committee; Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, Dr. Ayodele Elegbeleye, Chairman of National Youths and Students among others also said the rally was aimed at registering the strong presence of the party in the state and in Nigeria and their support for all PDP candidates from governorship to state. House of Assembly.

Party leaders and members were seen waving PDP flags, while others were seen on tractor-trailers as they drove towards Maryland, chanting various slogans.

Speaking to reporters at the exit, Dr Ogunkelu, who led the rally, said the umbrella, which is the symbol of the PDP, signified protection, assuring that the party, if re-elected in 2023, would bring the country back to what it used to be. be and even much better than between 1999 and 2015.

“In 2023, we look forward to our leader, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, becoming President of Nigeria. We are eagerly awaiting our Governor candidate, Dr. Adediran commonly known as Jandor, to become Governor of Lagos State. We look forward to a renaissance of freedom and security in Nigeria,” he said.

“We have gone from the fastest growing economy in Africa and the third fastest growing economy in the world to the poverty capital of the world,” he lamented.< /p>

“Now PDP is coming back, when we come back we know what we have been doing since 1999 when Nigeria was in debt. , and we will bring the economy back,” he assured.

Reacting to a question, the former minister said politicians are not the same, positing that no two individuals are ever the same, although he argued that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ruined the country.

“Politicians are not the same, no two individuals are the same. In 2015, Nigerians wanted change and instead of getting change, if you are Yoruba, change is senji. So they ruined this country,” he said.

Leader (Ms) Maina who also spoke to reporters said the umbrella showed the fact that the PDP has a strong presence in Lagos State and Nigeria in particular and that the party was united.

According to her, the umbrella is meant to cover the Nigerian people, protect them and keep them safe from hunger, although she noted that APC had told many lies that had become apparent due to the high level of poverty in the country.

“Umbrella Day is about showing that PDP is Lagos State and Nigeria in particular, and that we are together.

"The umbrella is to cover us, the umbrella is to protect us, the umbrella is to give advice, to guide us, no more hunger, no more insecurity, no more lies.

"They have told us so many lies in the past. It is now apparent that they have done nothing for eight years. We can all see. We have given them the chance to rule, is that how rule?

"You can't eat three meals a day, you can't even eat one and be satisfied, it's embarrassing, enough of these lies," she said.

Captain Tunji Shelleh, who is also a member of the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Committee, in his remarks described Atiku as a man very capable of moving the country forward as a pan-Nigerian with experience necessary, as he acknowledged his decision to ensure that his military appointments are spread across the country if he is elected as the country's next president, in 2023 to ensure stability.

“If the nominations are not distributed over the geopolitical areas of the country, it can portray instability, it can portray division. But these are things that Atiku Abubakar wants to correct to ensure that all regions from the country from Southeast to South-South to Southwest, all areas have the opportunities. Let all these opportunities be equally distributed. That one would make a better army and a better fighting force.

"Atiku is a unifier and has been working in this field for a very long time. He is experienced, he is exposed and he is cosmopolitan. He lives in the North, he lives in the South. He has friends in Lagos , he has friends in Maiduguri, he has friends in the East, and everyone wants him.

"And you can see the kind of release that we have today, that everyone is happy. We are already celebrating 2023 and we hope that by the end of...