Director General of Atikulated Agenda 2019, Chief Emeka Kalu has given reasons why back in early 2017, he initiated mobilization and sensitization for the presidency of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Kalu who is also the chairman of Stercoll Petroleum Services, USA was speaking to the Spokesperson of Atiku Presidential Campaign Organization, Mr Segun Showunmi on Tuesday, 3rd July at the national headquarters of the organization. In his introductory speech, Kalu underscored experience, investment acumen and popularity as some of the factors that informed his decisions:
“What I saw in Atiku is someone who has feelings for Nigeria, someone who can connect, a unifying factor, someone who can be in the centre and bring everybody together. I am conversant with his wealth of experiences and his contributions on personal capacity to emancipate the country.
That’s why I have been using my time and resources to make sure that Atiku Abubakar emerges president. we have a presence in all of the South East. In every local government and virtually every town, there is a presence of the Atikulated Agenda 2019. due to the efforts we have made, Atiku has become a household name.
On why the group has been successful, he revealed “Even though I work from the United States and Nigeria, we have been able to put our tentacles around the country and in the diaspora, we also have overwhelming presence in the South East, and we have huge followership, and a lot of these people through us, have come to also believe what we believe.
Kalu advised the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to unanimously adopt Abubakar for president. He stated “The PDP will be making a tremendous mistake if they fail to adopt Atiku as their sole candidate for president. He is the only one with the wealth of experience, intellectual wherewithal, business acumen and investment intelligence, especially international standards. he is just the right man for the job at this point in time.
In his response, Mr Segun Showunmi argued that the present federal government has denied Nigerians the freedom to express themselves, stating that “It is only where there is a lot of freedom that people can have an opportunity to express themselves, to try their creativity out and not be feeling like, ‘if I do this I will get into trouble’, you cannot have a system that shakes the whole nation and you attract investment.
“You cannot apply the laws in a manner that people are not sure of justice and you will expect that you will attract investment. The narrative around the country cannot be that everyday people can just sleep in one village and people will just go and kill them for no just cause, and they will continually do this for three years and no consequence, nobody is arrested, no strong statement from the villa, no marching order that can show that if they catch you doing this you will not be able to attract investors”, he stated.
