Honorable Senator Hope Uzodinma, the Governor of Imo State, has claimed that the APC will win the presidential election in 2023.
In an interview with Channels TV, Uzodimma stated that the APC is still the party to beat, and that no one from the opposition PDP will be able to defeat the APC.
“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 the government came, made promises and paid lip service 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 PMB came, and as I speak over N300Bn has put into that project and only last week, I saw on the TV, 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 they 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 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 practise or the other”, he said.
When asked about additional difficulties facing the country, he said: “as Christians, we go to church, we kneel down to pray every day to God and all the prayers we make do not get answered at the same time. 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 if the APC’s presidential ticket for 2023 would be zoned to the southeast, the Governor gave his opinion.
He stated that while the people of the southeast naturally want the presidency, it would be tantamount to playing to the gallery on television and preempting the decision that will be made by the party’s leadership, and that aside from zoning considerations, the APC must give its ticket to someone capable of winning elections.
Governor Uzodinma went on to say that the party’s standard-bearer must be a Pan-Nigerian with a sense of justice-driven equity.
“You must believe in Nigeria to want to be the President of Nigeria”
The Governor further stated that the APC will have to choose a presidential candidate after taking into account both covert and overt elements.
“This ticket is not an airline ticket. We are talking about having a presidential candidate. It is the decision of the party. It has to be a collective decision,” he stated during the interview on Monday.
“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 added
