PEOPLE’S TRUST WILL END SECURITY CHALLENGES – OLAWEPO-HASHIM

•Presidential candidate promises to pay N50000 minimum wage

T he Peoples Trust (PT)  launched  its presidential campaign in Abuja yesterday  with a promise by its leaders to rid  the nation of the current state of hopelessness, insecurity and youth unemployment.

Presidential candidate of the party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, who addressed thousands of  supporters at the Old Parade Ground, said the state of security in the country was nothing to write home about , with 11  of 19 Northern states facing severe security challenges.

He  faulted  President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption,saying the administration was  not fight corruption to achieved positive result.

Corruption, he said, would be better tackled if the minimum wage was  above N18 thousand.

In this regard,he promised to  pay N50000 as minimum wage.

Olawepo-Hashim vowed that the party if voted into power will put an end to poverty and deal with insecurity in the country.

His words: “We are a party that is determined to build a better Nigeria. We want to put an end to poverty, and under development that has been the hallmark of the incumbent government. We will fright corruption in a way that it will be done scientifically.

“It will not just be a police action. You cannot fight corruption when the majority of the people are hungry.

“A government  that pays it workers minimum wage below 18 thousand naira cannot fight corruption efficiently. We will raise the minimum wage to N50000  during  the first anniversary of  our government. You can trust this party.

”This is a turning point in the history of Nigeria. We are at a point where we will exchange instability for security.

“We are at a point where we will dump poverty for prosperity, we are at a point where we will stop the wave of violence and hatred and build a truly united Nigeria; where the live of every Nigerian will count.

“Today, 11 out of 19 states of Northern Nigeria have literarily been overrun by bandits from across the border and violence caused by agents of disunity and destruction.

“The southern states have literarily been overtaken by kidnappers, robbers and all sorts of violence induced by the present state of the economy of the country.

“At the bottom of these massive upheavals in the land is youth unemployment, which has climbed to about 33 to 36 percent. Now we have more youths that are unemployed than youths that are gainfully employed. The national unemployment average has also climbed to 24 percent of the population.

“We are resolved to expand our economy to a $4trn economy within 10 years. We will restructure the way power is organised between the states and the federal government by devolving power to the states as presently constituted so that they can mobilise more local resources to address problems.

“We will empower the states to have their own police side-by-side with the federal police, so that the internal security can be enhanced. We will create a national guard as an intermediate force between the Army and the Police so that we can restore internal security rapidly to the country.”

Also speaking,the National Chairman of the PT, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), who declared the rally opened, said that the progressive forces in the country had resolved to deliver the presidential candidate of the party, Olawepo-Hashim in  February 16, 2019 polls.

The progressives, according to him, have decided to rally against the present set of leaders the same   way they rallied against the military   during the battle to regain democracy.

“We took a resolute decision to form this Movement we are seeing today. We have reunited under a broad platform called Third Force and by God’s grace and power, we will win. Let us go together,” he said.