Delta State Governor and vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ifeanyi Okowa, on Friday said with the challenges bedeviling the country, only experienced persons should be elected in the 2023 presidential election to steer the affairs of the country.
Okowa, who described Nigeria as a fractured state, stated that the problems facing the country would overwhelm Buhari’s successor if he is inexperienced.
Speaking at an event organised by Green Assembly Initiative, to mark the 2022 International Youth Day in Abuja, he added that the next Nigerian president should be someone who could salvage the country.
He said, “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 the seat and stay 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, it 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 policymaking process.
Lamenting that Nigerian unity was under threat with contending voices, Okowa said, “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”,
The governor, who slammed the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) for not embracing state police despite the high level of insecurity in the country, added, “When it comes to security demand. You’re going to hear various voices, even the governors are crying and they have begun to equip themselves with weapons, even unlawfully.
“There are barriers everywhere in our lives, we cannot continue to frustrate the youths. So, we need to begin a consensus together. That is what Atiku Abubakar stands for.