By Ndahi Marama, Maiduguri
The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Borno State has launched a House-to-House, H2H, Campaign Project, with about 3,000 volunteers, who are charged with the responsibilities of garnering or senstizing voters to cast their votes for the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Ifeanyi Okowa, in the forthcoming 2023 general elections.
Besides, the volunteers, who are mostly women and youths, are to also lobby voters to ensure PDP and it’s candidates win all elective positions in the state.
Addressing newsmen soon after the inauguration of the team at the Conference Hall, Pinnacle Hotel in Maiduguri yesterday, the Director General of Borno PDP H2H Campaign Project, Hon. Mustapha Shehu, a.k.a Mustash, said that the setting up of the H2H Campaign Project followed the recent attacks on the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Abubakar, while in Maiduguri for his campaign that hitherto led to the deaths of some PDP supporters with the destruction of vehicles in Atiku’s entourage after paying homage at the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Dr. Abubakar Garbai Al-Amin Elkanemi.
He said that since the attack, the PDP in the state initiated the best option of ‘Campaign with Ideas’ peacefully, hence the inauguration of the H2H Campaign Project, in order to avoid incessant attacks on its members and supporters, while conducting their campaigns in open places.
On the essence of the gathering, which was attended by mostly women and youths, Shehu said, “The essence of the gathering is to launch the Borno PDP H2H project. As you are aware that we have been inundated with politics of bitterness and violence.
“Recall that during our presidential campaign rally here in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, our presidential candidate, who is the former Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Wazirin Adamawa, along with his convoy were attacked, and even some of our supporters were killed. So, we decided to bring this type of campaign here in order to sanitize the kind of politics we have in Borno.
“We want to bring politics of ideas, and not politics of brigandage or hooliganism. And so, we have decided that in each of the 27 local government areas, we are going to have this campaign team of about 3,000 people in this movement, who would be moving from one house to the other to garner people’s support for our candidates from the presidential down to the state House of Assembly.
“In Borno, we have 27 local government areas, three senatorial districts, 10 federal constituencies and 28 state constituencies. It also has 312 registration areas, 5,071 poling units as well as 2,514,228 voters, as contained in the preliminary register of voters presented by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and so, this H2H campaign team are expected to play a critical role to ensure PDP win from top to bottom.
“In every local government, we are going to have this campaign team. In every ward, there is going to be at least 10 people/volunteers, who are to be headed by a Coordinator. These people would go to different houses to campaign for candidates of our great party, especially the Wazirin Adamawa and our gubernatorial candidate, Hon Ali Jajari.
“Basically, as I have said earlier, we are going to have 3,000 members or volunteers for this movement, and this movement is not adhoc, because we are not going to end it after the 2023 general elections, this is a movement we are going to keep or sustain for future elections or engagements. So the people you saw here are mostly our representatives from the wards level, because that is where the grassroots politics is prevalent. From here now, we are going to get the list of volunteers and when we go back to Abuja, we will put them into our database.”
On what are the key messaging the H2H project team would portray, the Director General said, “This campaign team are to portray to people the glorious days of PDP while in power for 16 good years in this country.
“Before, some people use to say PDP were bunches of thieves, but you and I have now have come to the conclusion that PDP is better than the All Progressives Congress, APC, misrule. So people should come back to the PDP, because, it is the only national party that can wipe away poverty, insecurity and all sorts of social vices currently witnessed all over the places.”
The occasion was well attended by numerous PDP stakeholders, including a representative of the Borno State PDP Chairman, Hon. Zanna Gadama, among others who all pledged to do their best to ensure unprecedented victory of the PDP at the forthcoming general elections.
