Atiku Suspends Presidential Campaign To Tour Flooded States

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has suspended his presidential campaign after his counterpart of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, called for suspension of all campaigns to honour Nigerians affected by the tragedy.

Atiku is set to commence a tour of states impacted by flooding.

Obi commenced his own tour four days ago with a visit to Benue State where he donated money to displaced people.

Some states across the country have been flooded, submerging communities in Anambra, Benue, Delta, Bayelsa, and Kogi which has become the epicenter.

The Kogi flooding led to many deaths with a vast swathe of the state covered with water, cutting off the Lokoja-Abuja expressway.

Atiku however staged a rally in Edo State on Saturday but has now scaled back campaign operations to take first hand reports on the affected states.

A press statement issued by Paul Ibe, his Media Adviser, said the former Vice President will begin the tour from Bayelsa State on Tuesday.

The “tours to states ravaged by flooding become incumbent in view of the trauma that the incidents have caused its victims,” the statement said.

Ibe said, “Consequently, the tours will provide the presidential candidate the opportunity to have an on-sight impact assessment of these flooding incidents and give him a veritable window to input those ecological concerns in his policy documents.”

The statement pointed out that “the PDP presidential candidate had supported flood victims in Jigawa, Yobe and Kano long before now.

“He was also the first candidate to speak on the issue and had counselled that persons living around the most vulnerable areas be temporarily evacuated following the alert by the meteorological agency that a further 24 states faced the risk of major flooding”.