Some presidential aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday evening paid a visit to Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel at the Government House during which they discussed matters pertaining to the forthcoming elections.
The aspirants Bauchi Governor Senator Bala Mohammed; his Sokoto counterpart Aminu Tambuwal; former Senate President Bukola Saraki and Muhammad Hayatuddeen had a closed-door meeting with their host, which lasted into the night.
Speaking on behalf of the delegation, Saraki said the meeting was to brief the Governor and one of the party’s presidential hopefuls on the resolve to put the interest of the country ahead of their ambitions.
“We’ve been going around the country and we are here to meet with Governor Udom Emmanuel as a key stakeholder, to brief him of our intention to find a way of uniting us and to put the country and the party first and to inform him of our intention to have a consensus arrangement, because that is what we believe will make the party stronger.
“We’ve all agreed that where we are now in Nigeria, it has become very critical that we prepare well for 2023 and we can only do that when we are selfless and united. That’s why we are here,” he added.
He expressed optimism that only the PDP can reverse the hardship and insecurity currently plaguing Nigerians.
He explained that even though each of them may have had individual ambitions, uniting Nigeria, and rescuing it from insecurity and economic instability are greater ambitions.
According to him, the task of rescuing Nigeria was way beyond individualism and partisanship, adding that it required a team that can wake up and say enough of certain things and then put things in the right perspective, to rescue and restore the country, as a team.
He described the delegation as a people that love Nigeria, maintaining that they look forward to what can be made out of the country’s bad situation at the moment.
“This is the time we have to look inwards and reappraise, then look at certain things we must do and do it right, and timely.
“That’s why you see this caliber of people coming together trying to find a consensus and to find a common ground to say that we are all but one.
“We don’t have any other country to go to. That’s the whole essence of all the meetings,” he stressed.
