Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma is confident that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will continue to be at the helm of affairs in the country, saying that Nigerians would vote for the ruling party again in the 2023 general elections.
He disclosed this on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“Giving the activities and achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari as the President of Nigeria, there is no doubt that Nigerians would vote APC again,” he said.
“I don’t agree that after 2023 when President Muhammadu Buhari would no longer be the President of Nigeria that the APC would be weak, no. “
The governor also expressed hope that the party would emerge stronger after President Buhari’s tenure elapses in two years’ time.
He explained that the President being a committed APC member would deploy his resources to the party and his successor to ensure that the dividends of democracy are delivered to Nigerians.
According to the Imo governor, many party faithful and non-APC members have begun trooping in their thousands to join their political fold.
Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma speaks during an interview on Politics Today from Owerri on February 3, 2021.
When asked for the political fortunes of the southeast in producing Nigeria’s presidency in 2023, Uzodinma said it is achievable, adding it is the dream of every politician to attain the highest office of the land.
Recalling that the late Head of State, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe called for a political alliance which he said led to the birth of the APC in 2014, the governor called for easterners to work hard to produce an Igbo President.
“Looking and discovering that the only way the southeast would be developed is if they become part and parcel of the national politics. He created the idea of the NPN/NPP alliance, and our great Zik signed on that alliance.
“Through that alliance, Ekwueme not only became the Vice President, that alliance earned Edwin Ume-Ezeoke the Speaker of the House of Representatives and created Mike Okoye the pioneer Minister of the FCT,” he added.
While noting that politics is about the people, Governor Uzodinma explained that the eastern region has realized that it cannot attract the necessary dividend of democracy if the Igbo people continue to alienate themselves from the national stage.
He noted that although the APC is being controlled by the Federal Governor, the people need to identify with the party by joining the moving train.
“It is for this reason that the southeast, we now decided to be part of the mainstream politics of Nigeria. We are committed, we have joined the APC the ruling party.
“It is not about being President or not being President. Politics is about ideology, politics is about logic. If you want to be part and parcel of every meeting that we decide how a President would emerge in Nigeria,” he said.
