Delta state governor and the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, weekend, said that Nigeria is presently too fractured for an inexperienced person to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
Okowa, however, declared that what it takes to right all wrongs done to the Nation by the present administration, is for the emergence of only former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as the 16th President of Nigeria.
This is coming even as about 60 Nigerian youth groups declared their support for the presidential aspiration of Atiku Abubakar’s presidency in 2023.
Speaking Friday in Abuja at an event organised by Green Assembly Initiative, GAI, to mark International Youths Day 2022, Okowa pondered why the country has been unable to take deep decision, particularly on acceptance of state policing to curb insecurities or embrace National Health Insurance policy for all.
It was on that backdrop that PDP’s vice presidential candidate promised that Atiku’s government would adopt policies that would advance progress for the benefit of Nigerians.
According to the Delta governor, Nigeria today appears very frightening, but we cannot lose hope. It is possible, working together, trusting in ourselves to begin the rebuilding process.
“And our building process starts in 2023 when Atiku Abubakar becomes President. People ask, I don’t want to play politics. I do not believe in all those who are running for the presidency. The way we look at what is going on today in Nigeria, there are loads of problems.
“And if we do not elect the right person, we’ll find ourselves getting somebody who will get on seat and stays confused on that seat because the problems will overwhelm him because he will not know how to start.
“Nigeria’s issues are not about communication. It is not about power because all those things are there. It is not easy to govern in this nation, where the rule of law is taken for granted because institutions are already working. When you work in a country like Nigeria and other West African countries where the issues are different and requires a lot of deep thoughts; requires a lot of positive experience that can truly enable you to govern and to be able to bring everybody to reason on the table and be inclusive on the governance process and in the policy making process.
“Not too many people have such experiences. I believe that in Nigeria of today is too fractured there are so many contending voices. People are speaking in different directions. Our oneness is being threatened. Why? Not because of the north or south, Muslim and Christians, but because there’s frustration everywhere, there’s poverty everywhere. We don’t seem to have the answers because everything just appears to be going downhill.
“And then the issue of Social Security is no longer there. The security in the land is worsening, our economy is in terrible shape. We cannot continue in that state. We must prioritize our priorities. We must continue to look at the right things, what we ought to do”, he added.
While sympathising with Nigerians, especially the youths for the difficult times in Nigeria, the Vice Presidential candidate said: “Youth has a role to assist or to work with the leadership of this country, to begin to re educate our people to re emphasize education, to re emphasize family management, population management, re – emphasize the issues that can truly help us.
“There are barriers everywhere in our of life, we cannot continue to frustrate the younths. So, we need to begin a consensus together. That is what I Atiku Abubakar stands for.
“That was Nigeria today we do not have the depth of knowledge, the only man who seems to have that depth of knowledge to take us out of where we are is Atiku Abubakar.
“He’s the only one that has had a similar experience in 1999. Together with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, they’re able to take us out of a difficult situation.
“It is not about the PDP or APC, it is about who can salvage us at the moment, we must think around, so that we will not allow the trauma in our minds to make us take the wrong decision.
“When it comes to securityd demand. Today you’re going to hear from Amotekun. You’re going to hear various voices, even the governors are crying. And they have begin to equip themselves with weapons, even unlawfully.
“So the right thing is to ensure that the states are able to have their own police where they are officially equipped. And then they can go out in support of whatever the federal government police are doing. To secure the land.”
Speaking on the theme of the International Youth Day, 2022, titled: Inter-generational solidarity creating a world for all ages, Chairman of the Green Assembly Initiative, GAI, Comrade Duke Alamboye, said it is quite disturbing struggling social services, the challenges of insecurity, dilapidated infrastructure and the decry of Nigerians is what the country have been inundated with on a daily basis over the years.
While declaring the support of 60 youths group for Atiku Abubakar, Alamboye said: “Anyone in victimized shoes will be dampened by the vociferous suggestion that what we need is to unite and maintain solidarity, however, The advocates of Nigerian problems posit religion, ethnicity, and the issue of restructuring the Nigerian federal system as the bane of our problem but the real problem lies with not maintaining a strong and progressive bond between generations in the midst of these differences.”
