Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State has predicted victory for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023 despite the current security challenges.
Uzodimma spoke while fielding questions from State House reporters after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The governor said more governors would join the ruling party before 2023 as they had seen what he called a “deliberate attempt by some group of people to pull down” this government.
Asked whether he thought more governors would defect to APC from the South East, Uzodimma said: “Not just from the South East, many governors in Nigeria will join the APC.
“You have seen that…part of the problem of this government is the deliberate attempt by some group of people to pull it down.
“Because nobody is telling me that this government is not performing, that salaries are not being paid or that the roads are not being constructed or the railway is not going or the various intervention funds to empower our youths are not being given out.
“Nobody has come in concrete terms to accuse this government of one failure or the other.
“All we hear is that herdsmen and farmers are fighting and for that reason, 200 people are kidnapped.
“People are shot down there, people are killed there. What do you want the government to do? We must be realistic. I believe in pragmatism. I believe in doing things right.
“Can anybody come and tell me one, two, three, four reasons why this APC should not win in the next election?
“Nobody has said that, I have not read either in any newspaper. All I hear is that because of insecurity this, insecurity that, but you send people out in the night to go and cause trouble and use it in day to blame the government.”
