This election will be referendum on insecurity, hunger, says Dogara

• Says Buhari not serious about ending ASUU strike.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, says the 2019 presidential election is not about President Buhari or Atiku Abubabar, but rather about a referendum on insecurity and hunger that has pervaded the land.

Speaking in Lafia, Nasarawa state at the campaign of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) Thursday, Hon Dogara, condemned sycophants who elevate some public office holders to the status of God, saying that by so doing, they bring destruction upon the country and called on all Nigerians to rise up and rescue the country from the clutches of insecurity.

“Just like my last speech to Nigerians that were gathered in a rally like this in Gombe, I said that the 2019 general elections is not about President Muhammadu Buhari, it’s not about Atiku Abubakar, but I said it is about you who are gathered here and it will be a referendum on insecurity and hunger in this land”, he said.

The speaker continued, “On the issue of insecurity, all of us know what is happening in Borno and, unfortunately too, between Abuja and Kaduna, as well as in Zamfara, Katsina, Nassarawa, Benue, Plateau and even Sokoto States.

Hon Dogara again stressed that the forthcoming 2019 election will be a referendum  on many issues, including education which he said has not being given attention that it deserves by the present government as displayed in the lacklustre way it is handling the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

He noted specifically that by allowing schools to shut down under the name of strike, this government has thrown teeming Nigerian youths into idleness and slowing down their progress saying, “It’s been said that if you want to destroy a community, state or nation, don’t even fire shots or bring the crisis that is being perpetrated by Boko Haram, don’t even bring nuclear bomb, all you need to do is to lower the standard of education in that Community state, or nation. Once you succeed in doing that, you’ve killed the nation.

It will be recalled that the Speaker had raised the alarm on the rising spate of insecurity in the country since 2016 and called for the overhaul of the nation’s security architecture.

He had also cautioned against deployment of soldiers in 32 out of 36 states of the federation which he said may not augur well for democracy and advocated for reform of the Nigeria Police.