The running mate to Atiku Abubakar, the presidential standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 election, Ifeanyi Okowa says the party had never lost any presidential election in Cross River State.
He made the remarks, on Friday, while addressing supporters at the inauguration of the presidential campaign office in Calabar.
Okowa who is currently the Governor of Delta State, said, “I want to thank you and congratulate you because of your resolve to recover what rightfully belongs to us in this state.
“We went to the election and under the umbrella of PDP. We won the election in Cross River State. We believe we are still in charge and I know with the spirit in our women and our youth that we are truly very ready to recover the state back to the PDP.
“We have never lost any presidential election in this state and I know we’ll not lose in 2023 but we need to work hard because the number of votes matters and I believe Cross River State will do better.
“We came to let you know that we are with you all the way and there’s no reason to fear, we’ll work with you to ensure we win all the elections in Cross River State and concerning our nation Nigeria, there’s a huge challenge in this country. The level of disunity and insecurity in this nation is something that should worry each and every one of us. And the fact that the educational system is threatened, and the fact that our children could not even get employed because industries are folding up by the day, new ones are not coming, that’s not the Nigeria of our dream.”
He further stated, “I believe as a party we need to quickly recover this nation and to rebuild it in such a manner that we’ll be able to stay on course again. We need to have a secure nation, regrow the economy, and reunite the people and these are what the presidential candidate has promised Nigerians and our own as a party is to keep to our promises.
“We may not be like others who will want to speak to the people the very words that they’ll like to hear but inside their hearts, they do not mean it. We’ve demonstrated this from 1999 to 2015, unfortunately, Nigerians wanted to try a new hand and to try a new party but they’ve seen the difference, so it’s time for us to return to rebuild and rebuild our economy, yet again secure the country and to unite us.
“A country where every component parts will be hopeful of a better tomorrow and be hopeful of the fact that they’ll be reasonably included in the governance of the nation.
“Our presidential candidate has also promised that he needs stronger subnational governments, very important because we cannot all continue to go to Abuja with our caps in our hands begging for money. So he has promised to devolve more powers to the state and local government and to devolve more resources to the states and local government. These obviously will impact development in our various states because all states can now compete favourably and develop at their own pace but at a competitive pace.
“And we know that education is very foremost in the PDP agenda and the health sector and human capital development is something we are going to pay very serious attention to because our children need to be gainfully employed.”
Also speaking, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel said, “I just want to reiterate the fact that you already know that since 1999 no other party has won election in Cross River State except PDP and I don’t think 2023 will be different. Be rest assured of our support that Cross River PDP will stand and stand firm.
“I don’t know which other party would favour the South-South more than the party that south is in the centre.
Cross River is the engine room of the Atiku-Okowa campaign organisation.
“As the chairman of the presidential campaign council of the Atiku-Okowa campaign which is a movement, I stand here today to inaugurate the youth and women wing of the Cross River State chapter of this presidential campaign council.
“They interviewed me and I told them why I’m on this train is because I found capacity, sincerity, I found love for the people and I found that compassion.
In our Dakkada philosophy we use to say that ‘Once the passion is right, nothing is impossible.’
Governor Emmanuel further stated, “I found that possibility for us to be able to restore the economy of this country within two years and we have the right people to do it. Once we restore the economy, a lot of social vices will be minimised.
“People leave the substance and chase the shadow, we’ll go straight to the substance and then the shadow will disappear.”
