From Everest Ezihe, Owerri
The Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma has for the first time said that he joined All Progressives Congress (APC) because it’s the only national party that has provided true dividends of democracy to Nigerians especially South East geopolitical zone since democratic dispensation of the country starting from 1979.
Uzodimma who also predicted that the APC will hold the ace in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election while speaking in a recent interview with Channels TV, monitored in Owerri, the state capital.
The Governor said it point blank that APC remains the party to beat and that there is nobody that the opposition PDP will put forward that the APC will not defeat.
According to him“today, whether you like it or not, the party to beat remains the APC. I come from the Southeast and since after the civil war, the only gateway out of the Southeast and entire Eastern Nigeria was the old Niger bridge. Government after government came, made promises and paid lip services to those promises. Right from 1979 to 1983 (2nd Republic), we were promised the 2nd Niger bridge. From 1999 to 2007, we were promised the same Niger bridge not until 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari came to power, and as I speak over N300Bn has been put into that project and only last week, I saw on the television, the Chief of Staff to Mr. President, Minister of Works, Minister of Labour and Productivity, inspecting the joining of the bridge billed for commissioning within the next 3 months.
It will be gross ingratitude for anybody to come from that region to talk of PMB neglecting the whole eastern region.”
“The truth of the matter is that PDP were in office for 16 years. Try to compare that 16 years side by side with the 7 years plus APC has been in power. I am a deductive analyst, if there is anything that has driven me to stick to the APC, it is because of the consistency and integrity of the the driver of that vehicle – President Buhari. He is sincere, means well for Nigerians and is honest. Let somebody point to anywhere he has engaged in one corrupt practice or the other”, he said.
Asked about other challenges the country is faced with, he responded; “as Christians, we go to church, we kneel down to pray everyday to God and all the prayers we make do not get answered at the same time. For the fact that some issues have not been tackled today, does not mean it will not be done tomorrow. All I am saying is that the circumstances of this time, even all over the world, from the insecurity, terrorism, insurgency and so on are unimaginable. From 2015 till date, Nigeria has never witnessed this level of insecurity, political antagonism, hostility and instigations”.
When asked about the probability of the APC zoning its 2023 presidential ticket to the southeast during their next Saturday scheduled national convention, the Governor said that, the people of the southeast of course wants the Presidency, but it will amount to playing to the gallery discussing on television and begin to preempt the decision that will be taken by the leadership of the party and apart from the zoning consideration, the APC will certainly give its ticket to someone capable of winning elections.
He insisted that the standard bearer of the party must be a Pan-Nigerian who has the sense of equity driven by justice.
“You must believe in Nigeria for you to have the ambition to be the President of Nigeria”
The Governor also said that the party, APC would have to take a decision on its eventual presidential candidate after considering both covert and overt factors.
Uzodimma pointed out that “this ticket is not an airline ticket. We are talking about having a presidential candidate. It is a decision of the party. It has to be a collective decision,”.
“Nobody will get the presidential ticket because he spoke good English on the television. Nobody will get the presidential ticket because he was abusing people on television. It is a decision of the party and many factors will be responsible — covert and overt factors — because at the end of the day, the ticket will be given to a name that can win the election. Winnability is the name,” he noted
