Ahead of the February 16 presidential election, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has charged Nigerians not to allow President Muhammadu Buhari “to steal their votes.”

A statement from the Office of the Director, Media and Publicity of PDP’s Presidential Campaign Organisation (PPCO) indicated that Atiku said this yesterday, in Abuja, at an interactive session with some youth groups, social media influencers and bloggers .

The PDP candidate noted that the Buhari administration has wrecked the nation and must be voted out next month for the country to thrive again.

He said the alleged desperate attempts by the Presidency to manipulate the electoral process, including the foisting of the president’s relative to head the collation of the presidential election results as well as alleged hounding of judicialofficers, are all geared to enable the All Progressives Congress (APC) steal votes in the election.

“President Buhari has stolen your jobs. He has stolen your rights. Don’t let him steal your votes. They are preparing the ground to steal your votes. I know Nigerians are ready to ‘Get Nigeria Working Again’, but, don’t let president Buhari steal your votes,” he admonished.

“Nigeria has never been in such a bad shape as we have today, not even during the civil war. Things are really bad. We have never had the economy this bad and the nation has not been so insecure as we are under the Buhari administration. That is why we all must work together to rescue our nation and make it work again,” Atiku said.

The former vice president has also urged Nigerians not to despair, noting that he has already perfected templates that would ensure “rapid economic recovery, massive employment opportunity and strategic avenues for empowerment of Nigerians in all sectors of life,” if elected aspresident.

Atiku attributed poverty among the masses to what he termed “concentration of too much power at the centre” and vowed to dismantle the power, if elected president.

He noted that despite the huge resources the country is blessed with, only few Nigerians, who have strong ties to the centre have benefitted immensely, while masses of Nigerians have suffered from bad governance.

Atiku, who declared that he would banish hunger, re-invent the economy and ensure Nigerians enjoy real dividends of democracy, equally reiterated his commitment to restructuring, if he emerges winner of the February 16 presidential poll.

The PDP presidential flag-bearer spoke yesterday at the annual New Year Thanksgiving Memorial Service, organised by the former governor of Ogun state and the Director General of Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, Gbenga Daniel, held at the Abraham’s Tabernacle, Sagamu, Ogun state.

•Sourced from a Daily Sun report