Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State says it is his responsibility to convince the people of the state to vote the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, during the 2023 general elections.
He also said voters will decide the popularity of the ruling party at the polls next year.
“I belong to a political party. I have the responsibility to convince my people that my party has the best programmes for the country. I will convince voters,” Uzodimma said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday.
The governor said though there are “local rivalry here and there” but his achievements as an APC governor will speak for the party at the polls.
“Let me take the programmes of my political party to my people; let me market the programmes of my political party to my people. Let the election come, let my people vote. Then, the outcome of the election will determine whether they accepted my party or my candidate,” Uzodimma commented.
Asked whether he was sure that Tinubu will win the 2023 presidential election, Uzodimma said his achievements continue to win “converts” for the ruling party in the state.
“The presidential election is an election for Nigerian President, not for Igbo President…Bola Ahmed Tinubu is candidate of APC to be President of Nigeria, not President of Igbo, or Yoruba or Hausa,” he noted.
Agitations for a President of South-East extraction continue to dominate public discussions as the February polls draw near. Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, has been in the vanguard of this quest. The group recently backed the ambition of Labour Party’s presidential candidate and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi.
In the race which some analysts have described as a three-horse contest is Tinubu; Obi; as well as Peoples Democratic Party’s Atiku Abubakar, who was Nigeria’s Vice-President between 1999 and 2007.
