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The scramble for money left many persons wounded at the Government House, Asaba shortly after former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar left the Unity Hall after his consultation visit to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) faithful in Delta State.
With journalists prevented from entering the Unity Hall, venue of the hosting of the former vice president, no sooner had Atiku departed the venue than irate youths pounced on party officials charged with the responsibility to disburse money to various delegates from the 25 local government areas of the State.
The scramble for the money resulted in fisticuffs, injuries, and commotion, while security men shot into the air inside the hall to try to bring the situation under control.
Some outraged delegates in their desperation and sense of indignation snatched bundles of money and ran away with others in hot pursuit around the Delta State Government House grounds.
Some security personnel attached to some politicians shot into the air to scare away the youths and prevent the situation from degenerating.
An unidentified youth who was chased around the grounds, was caught and beaten up by youths when he tried to escape with wads of naira notes. With his clothes torn, he was stripped and thoroughly beaten up
Naira notes littered the grounds as desperate youths scampered in various directions.
Meanwhile, a Government House Press Unit release stated that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa have said that there must be restructuring for Nigeria to make progress.
The former Vice President, who was in the state to consult the people on his aspiration for the Presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 general elections.
announced that he has been in the fore-front for the restructuring of the country since 2004 as it will bring out the best among Nigerians.
Governor Okowa, who welcomed Alhaji Atiku stated, “I strongly believe that the way out of the challenges of the country is to have stronger states, stronger federating units.”
Okowa commended Alhaji Abubakar for engaging in consultation visit, assuring that delegates to the Presidential Primaries of the PDP will make their decisions based on acceptability, reach, experience and level of intelligence of the individual aspirants.
He urged the aspirant not to relent in moving to different states of the country, stating that more efforts should be made for the PDP to be in control of more states of the country to enable it clinch the Presidential position in 2019.
Alhaji Abubakar had said that his aspiration to be Nigeria’s President was borne out of his passion to ensure that the country make progress, disclosing, “the security architecture of the country must be reviewed and decentralized.”
He decried situation where security agencies does not take orders from the state governors, asserting, “as an individual, I don’t think this is true federalism, we must restructure the security architecture.”
The former Vice President also listed ways to tackle unemployment in the country observing, “to create jobs, you must liberalize the economy, support the private sector, create incentives to make the private sector boom and open up the economy to foreign direct investment.”
“I will have a very small federal government with powers and resources devolved to the states to manage the affairs while they pay tax to the federal government; with this, each zone can survive on its own without leaning on oil money,” he emphasized.
Earlier at a courtesy call on Governor Okowa, Alhaji Abubakar had said he was in the state to consult the people, to seek the support of the people to enable him emerge as the Presidential flag bearer of the PDP.
While noting that Delta State was home to the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar commended the developmental strides of the Delta State Governor, Senator Dr Okowa in the development of the state.
“Delta State has been a PDP state, each successive government continues from where the previous one stopped in terms of infrastructure development, you (Governor Okowa) have continued to develop infrastructure, especially roads, your efforts in executing your programmes and policies, especially in the creeks are highly commendable as they will reduce agitations, it requires wise leadership for communities to live in peace and have sense of belongings and I must commend you for doing this in the state,” he stated.
Others who spoke at the event include, former Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, his Imo State counterpart, Chief Achike Udenwa, former Minister of the Ministry of Niger Delta, Elder Godsday Orubebe, among others.