Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has revealed why former President Goodluck Jonathan missed the just-concluded National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja.
There have been speculations that Jonathan may soon defect to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and his absence at the Convention gave credence to his planned defection.
But in an interview on Channels TV on Monday, Okowa stated that the former Nigerian leader was absent at the event because he had prior engagements abroad on the day of the convention.
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The Delta governor said Jonathan left Nigeria for Nairobi, Kenya, to attend the 12th African Union (AU) High-Level Retreat on the promotion of peace, security and stability in Africa.
He said: “I believe communications were made with the former President Goodluck Jonathan but he had prior engagements outside the country.
“He was unable to attend because he had commitments abroad and he had to meet up with that.”
Speaking on the security challenges in the country, Okowa stated that the PDP was ready to rescue Nigeria from the shackles of the APC.
The governor said Nigeria is getting to the point of the security situation in Afghanistan and where even the middle class may be affected by the food crisis.
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“We do know exactly what we are in at the moment; there is crisis in everything, in insecurity, in the economy. And a lot of people are really hungry, the number of unemployment is growing, the youths are becoming restive. And they are no longer comfortable with the country they call their own,” Okowa said.
“So when you look at all these things and the fact that the economy is nosediving everyday, and when you look at the kind of budget that is being presented to Nigerians, there is cause to worry, that it is something that cannot take us in the right direction.
“The insecurity is beginning to impact on our agricultural production. And that is not good for our country. We may find ourselves in the next few years going into food insecurity, and that will probably be the worst.
“So looking at this, you will agree with me that we need to retrieve Nigeria from the path we are on now. Something needs to be done. That is why we have presented ourselves as a credible alternative, to take Nigeria back to the path of progress.
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“We need to make people believe that there is hope for a new Nigeria and we will not be in a situation where we have deep insecurity crisis, like we have in places like Afghanistan, because we are almost at that level now at the moment, and it is not the best for our nation.”
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