The Bauchi State Governor and a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bala Mohammed, said he would bring out the best in every part of Nigeria, if elected president.
Mohammed made the remarks in Awka, on Friday, when he addressed members of the PDP in Anambra State ahead of the party’s presidential primaries.
He said Nigeria’s problem was anchored on leadership, recruitment.
He noted that if the country’s leadership was fair and just, Nigeria would be better for it.
He said, “Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am standing here before you, offering myself to serve and return Nigeria to greater height and greatness. With you, we will rebuild and relaunch this country so that we can regain our national pride.
“If you are voting as delegates, vote wisely. If you have a better person, vote him or her. If I am not the best, don’t vote for me. But I know I am best.”
He called on party faithful to do away with the sentiment that had always made them to vote mediocre people who never remembered them when they get to powers.
According to him, those people voted due to sentiment or inducements did not care about the citizens because they had no history of doing things right as he had observed over the years.
“I have the experience and capacity to lead this country to greater glory, but if at the primary I am not elected, I will support whosever that emerges so that Nigeria can get out of the mess,” he said.
He said he had interacted most actively with the Igbo and had benefited much from them, noting that most of his mentors were Igbo.
He added that he had transversed all sectors of lives in the country as a minister, senator and worked with various people across the country and understood the problem of the nation.
“I believe that every Nigerian should be respected wherever he/she goes,” he stated.
He also stated that the North-East and South-East were suffering the same fate, noting that they were the only zones that had not produced the president of the country.
“I know that your son is coming out for the presidency. If he emerges, I will support him, but if I emerge, I will go with all of you. We must not allow this country to collapse, because if it collapses we will all suffer and blames ourselves.
“My work as a Minister, Senator and others has exposed me to the problem of the country and I have gathered better experience to lead this great country to united Nigeria where there will be justice and fairness and every person is respected as a citizen.
“I supported that every Nigerian should be respected where he goes. I am not unaware of the feelings of south, especially the South-East, on zoning, but let’s look at the issues in the context. The South-East and North-East are suffering the same fate; the North-East has not been there just like South-East.
“We cannot produce the president alone. We have to do it persuasively,” he added.
He said the PDP had suffered so much exclusion under the All Progressive Congress and it was time to end the exclusion to liberate Nigeria.
He pointed out that insecurity had taken over the South-East and North-East, and there was need to be united to rescue the country.
According to him, the entrepreneurial and enterprise spirit in the South-East is a great potential everybody must leverage for the industrialisation of the country.
“When I was minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the Igbo capital investment in Abuja was over 50 per cent. That is the true position, not only in Abuja, but (also) in Kano, Lagos, Kaduna and others. So, we are interrelated and connected as a people in Nigeria.
“We need to stabilise that symbiotic relationship that binds us together. When the Indigenous People of Biafra is talking about self-determination and self-actualisation. For where? When you own over half of the country. God may not give you everything, He has given something to you. That is the truth.
“Because of this, I am calling for this unity and fraternity among us.
If the Igbo youths understand this, they will now know the need for peace and unity in the country.
“I’m coming to bring equity and justice to this country where everybody would be recognised; where leadership recruitment will be fair and just, so that all sections of the country will have a sense of belonging. We will do it. I have benefited from this kind of justice and it is the only way out of Nigeria’s problems,” he said.
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