Udom Emmanuel: I Have Come to Rescue Nigeria

George OkohiIn Makurdi

Akwa Ibom State Governor and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that his ambition is to rescue the country from total collapse, adding that  his going into the presidential race is not a do or die affair but one borne out of the desire to rescue the country.

Udom stated this when he paid a courtesy visit on Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom in Makurdi as part of his campaign tour of the state  yesterday.

“I felt challenged not for selfish interest but on a very selfless matter. What is happening today is not insurmountable. We have solutions that we can proffer. Some of them do not even need money. Some need policies and things will just move well and we know the right policies that will bring solutions to some of the issues.

“That is why you see me feeling challenged now and coming in as a party member. And I want to reassure our party members that my own is not a do or die at all.

“I am in the race like Isaiah and If God wants to partner with me, I will say here I am, send me. If He says I’m not the one, whoever God says that person is, I will join my two hands with my entire family to give that person my support.

“But I want to let you know as my brothers that God is looking for someone to partner to rescue Nigeria. So whether we like it or not, somebody must offer himself and let God be the one to choose. So that is why you see me taking that bold step out,” he said.

The presidential aspirant said he is going into the race with a track record of sincerity, integrity and love for the country as his motivation to aspire to lead and rescue the country from collapse.

Responding, Governor Ortom, who lamented that Nigeria had never been this down economically, security wise, socially and in every other aspect of life, noted that Udom has the capacity to get the country out of its current situation.

“Out of the many PDP presidential aspirants, I believe that one of you will fly the flag to lead this country. The least of the PDP aspirant is better that the best of the APC. The spirit that you have to allow God to decide is in line with our belief in Benue because here we know that power belongs to God.

“The country does not only require prayers but also action, and that is what you are doing. We believe that you will have the opportunity to rescue the country, rebuild it and above all, take it from bottom to the top,” Ortom said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of  Udom Emmanuel Campaign Organisation,  Senator Gabriel Suswam,  has said  Udom has the capability, the ingenuity and creativity to do what even Nigeria as a country cannot achieve, citing the example of Ibom Air which the governor established within a short period of his governorship.

While describing Udom as someone who will revive the nation’s comatose economy and restore the lost glory of Nigeria if given the opportunity, Suswan said Akwa Ibom had moved from the backward, to a destination of choice both locally and Internationally due to the great job that Emmanuel has done in the state.

He spoke when the Akwa Ibom Governor went to seek the support of Niger State’s delegates in Minna.

Suswam said: “Our change will be positive change. Our next level will be positive higher level” he added, while the Presidential aspirant promised that women would be given a pride of place in his administration.

He reassured that he has the solution to insecurity which has bedeviled Niger, like other States across the country and regretted that the Jebba paper mill and other companies that used to be the pride of Niger State have become moribund.

His Presidency, he assured, will pursue policies that would reverse the worrisome situation and revive the industries, adding that, ‘’regrettably, our economy has gone down but if you build the economy, you will reduce insurgency; if you build the economy, you will reduce poverty; if you revive the economy, you will make our people happy”.

Assuring of the replication of his feat in Akwa Ibom State at the national level, Udom said he has the capability and capacity to turn around the economy, adding, “The time has come when we must overcome sentiments and biases and choose wisely”.

“I have all it takes to replicate at the national level what I have done at the sub-national level; give me the opportunity and I will not disappoint you’’, Udom said.

Recalling the bond of relationship between Niger State and Udom, Hadjia Abudulkadir Kure, wife of the former Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Yohana Kure explained that she hardly shakes hands or hug men but she shook hands with Udom because of the warm relationship between the aspirant and her late husband and ex-governor of Niger state.

“Udom was about the last person my husband discussed with before going on medical treatment to Germany where he never returned alive; my late husband and Udom were very, very close.

“I also want to say how the Director-General of Udom’s campaign, former military governor of Niger state, retired Col. Habibu Shuaib, handed over power to my husband in 1999.

“Not only did he hand over power to my husband, he mentored my husband. His wife also mentored me. They stood with us and they put us through. I can never forget that”, she added.

The DG said he brought and presented Udom to Niger state with the assurance that if elected, Udom will perform as excellently as he, Shuaib, did as military governor of the state.