Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has said that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), is unperturbed about moves by opposition leaders to form a coalition that would win the 2027 presidential election.
Speaking during a press conference in Lagos State yesterday, he said the ‘eyes’ of the APC are wide open and they would not allow any coalition to remove the power in their hands.
His words: “What is a coalition? We are practicing partisan democracy; we are not practicing coalition democracy. Partisan democracy is that you have to belong to a political party before you can contest any election. When you see that your party is no longer alive and you are looking for who will give you oxygen. You have to come out from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) first before you start talking about anything.
“I started by saying that you don’t change a winning team. We have seen where we were, where we are at the moment and where we are going to. At the end of the day, it is Nigerians that would decide. But that is still a long time away. We have more than two years as a government.
“If you want to go into how you would win the best election, Nigerians gave you the opportunity to rule for four years and you are barely two years and have started thinking about how to win another election; that would be a total distraction. But I know that this government is focused. APC is also focused and our eyes are open. We won’t let anyone remove what is in our hands because we are not sleeping.
“APC is the ruling party and you do not change a winning team. When someone is winning a match, he must continue to win. While we are saying that we are open to new ideas and contributions from people because no one knows it all, you may be the president of the country but only you cannot solve the problems of the nation, it is through collaboration that the country would become safer and stronger, so for me, APC is a strong party and we are working.
“From 2020 to 2025, those who were opposed to me, 79 percent of them are now with me. So there is nothing called a party without human beings. My party is the APC and the majority of those in Imo are APC.”
Speaking on the emergency rule in Rivers, he said: “I spoke on it. I anchored my reasoning and logic on the protection of our economic assets. By the time I heard that the pipeline was bombed at a time we were crying. I am the chairman of the National Economic Council subcommittee on crude oil theft and all of our efforts are geared towards boosting oil production. So anything that would reduce the production quota we have should not be encouraged.
“President Bola Tinubu is the Chief Security Officer of the country and he was worried about the growing tension in Rivers. What could have happened if they would have allowed those in the House of Assembly to impeach my colleague Fubara. It would be him today and another person tomorrow. I am a Christian and if you are a governor, it is because God approved. When I came in, I was one of the most abused and maligned governors and many of our people didn’t give me a chance.”
The Sun Nigeria
