Enugu And Tokunbo Adedoja in Lagos — Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Professor Pat Utomi yesterday said had the nation's democracy been normal, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would not have the boldness to seek a renewal of its mandate in the forthcoming April polls.

But the PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, yesterday in Enugu kicked off his campaign tour of the South-east zone with a pledge to serve the nation for the rest of his life while unveiling his poverty eradication agenda for transforming Nigeria.

Fielding questions from THISDAY Board of Editors during his visit to the company's corporate headquarters in Lagos yesterday, Utomi said it is tragic that Nigerians have seen the huge funds that have come into the coffers of government in the last eight years, which he described as unprecedented, without a corresponding impact on the nation and its citizens.

Utomi, who also issued a press release on his position, asked: "how can they (PDP) be so contemptuous of the Nigerian people that even the prospect of facing the electorate does not make them, at least, try to dress things up a little.

"Weeks to election, we have fuel shortage and petrol is sold in some parts of the country for twice the stated price (the great irony is that the closer you get to the oil fields, the more expensive the price of fuel); power supply is near collapse, worse than in 1999 despite investments of billions of naira; armed robbers are on rampage everywhere you look.

"The only reason anybody presiding over such can hope to win is either they consider the electorate stupid or have discounted their votes. We urge Nigerians to take the first steps in rejecting being classified as stupid or unable to make their votes count, today".

Faulting the premises upon which the PDP base its re-election bid, he said: "The cliché of the government that gave you the GSM should be embarrassing because pure water sellers in Cotonou and farmers in war-torn Congo DRC had GSM before their Nigerian counterparts. So to flaunt that as a great achievement is to project a low threshold of vision.

"For PDP chairman to mention more factories coming two weeks after Michelin shut its plants after forty years of operation and manufacturing contribution to GDP fall from just below 14 per cent from 15 years ago to less than 4 percent is to show a lack of familiarity with elements of the Nigerian condition on the part of the PDP chairman...".

While raising more posers about the basis for PDP's participation in the forthcoming elections, the presidential candidate of ADC said: "How can we justify being among the worst performers on the MDGs and have the courage to chant victory songs about reforms?

"How can we have so deep a crisis of values when they determine all human progress, and we pretend to be okay? How can we so despise the dignity of the human person that violence, including murder, and verbal altercations that have diminished us before the watchful eyes of an expectant world has become daily fair for our so-called leading politicians?

"How come cries of marginalisation have come from every nook and cranny, every koro and lungu of our country?"

Describing the political rallies of the PDP as a wasteful jamboree, Utomi said "As we have preached our message of change from the Atlantic to the Sahara, we have been stunned by how cynical the people are about the ruling elite and their commitment to the democratic process, and sustainable and just change in Nigeria. "Our observation is that this cynicism is not helped by the carnivals of unseriousness that party rallies have turned out to be. At these lavish waste of monies that most people believe came from the plunder of treasuries of Nigerian governments, hardly anything of worth about how to straighten out the appalling Nigerian condition is said."

He said though campaign is about people, but it should be done in smaller groups of a few hundreds who will engage the campaigner and ask questions, and not in a stadium of about 20,000 people, where the campaigner will only make speeches without the people having the opportunity to engage him.

He said with the way the electoral process is being carried on, there is a consensus that there is a lot to worry about. "People don't think that elections will take place and if it does, it will not be free and fair. We have raised a society of people who do not believe in anything", he noted.

Noting that he is in the race for real and not just to prove a point, Utomi said the problem of Nigeria is the convergence of military rule and oil discovery which created an economy of political rent seekers.

He said what President Olusegun Obasanjo did with his reform was to create private sector rent seekers, rather than creating an entrepreneurial class as the South Koreans did.

Commenting on the ideological bent of his party, Utomi said ADC is "the fastest growing values-driven political party in Africa which has modelled itself after people emancipating ANC of South Africa, is a peoples entrepreneurial capitalism anchored on the dignity of the human person.

"The core values of this party ideology includes market economy disposition that protects the weak and challenged, but rewards creativity, industry and merit while preparing all citizens through education, institutional support mechanisms and regimes of incentives to be among the most competitive people on earth, driven to attain global leadership in areas of competitive advantage."

Meanwhile, the PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, yesterday in Enugu kicked off his campaign tour of the South-east zone with a pledge to serve the nation for the rest of his life.

Addressing a large crowd of PDP supporters yesterday at the Michael Okpara Square, venue of the rally, Yar'Adua said "henceforth, everything I do shall be in the interest of the welfare of Nigerians and Nigerians alone."

The PDP flag bearer restated his commitment to be a servant -leader and called on Nigerians to vote for PDP in the April polls, saying such a vote would move Nigeria away from the decadent past to a new era of prosperity and progress.

He said: "By voting PDP in April, Nigerians would have identified with the vision of the party to transform Nigeria into a modern economy, an economy that would be one of the 20 largest in the world by 2020."

Yar'Adua assured Nigerians that the PDP was determined to succeed in its mission of wiping poverty away from the nation's landscape, explaining that the country was endowed with the human and natural resources to achieve its goal. "The PDP has charted the road-map to achieve this mission," he said.

Yar'Adua who was presented to the cheering crowd along with his running mate, Governor Goodluck Jonathan, by National Chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, reeled out his seven-point agenda for the nation, saying Nigeria under his leadership would have a diversified economy that would increase the productive capacity of its citizens to create wealth.

Specifically, he said agriculture would increase its contribution to the economy to 20 per cent, adding that solid minerals would be explored as one of the major sources of revenue for the country.

Yar'Adua said the reforms in the education sector would continue because the nation needed an educated workforce to grow its economy. "Education shall be free and compulsory for the first nine years," he stated.

He said his administration would embark on land reforms that would make it possible for land to be in the hands of majority of Nigerians, adding that land owners would be able to use it to raise the required funds to engage in productive economic activities. "This way we will eradicate poverty," he stated.

The presidential candidate said security would be a priority, promising that the would ensure that the rule of law prevailed. "The rule of law shall become a culture in our country," Yar'Adua stated.

Echoing the statement of the host Governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, that the PDP had already begun to celebrate its victory, the presidential candidate said given the clear vision of the party and the support of Nigerians, victory was assured.

"Let us celebrate our resolve to build a modern nation; let us celebrate our resolve that we shall fight and banish poverty; let us celebrate our resolve to take Nigeria forward and not backwards," he said

The PDP presidential candidate also promised that he will not forget the pride of place for the Ndigbo if voted into power at the forthcoming election.

He equally promised that he will ensure that the country is among the list of 20 developed nations in the world if voted into power. "PDP has begun a journey to transform Nigeria. The journey began in 1999. By voting for PDP, Nigeria will accept that we continue with the reform agenda. That is what I am going to do so that Nigeria becomes one of the 20 most developed nations in the world".