By Chinelo Obogo and Sunday Ani

Former deputy national chairman, South South of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Emmanuel Ogidi, has revealed that governors elected on the platform of the party were making consultations over who would emerge its presidential candidate.

Speaking on a TV programme monitored in Lagos, yesterday, the party chieftain said the All Progressives Congress (APC) had failed the nation and governors were concerned about the future of the country and wellbeing of citizens.

He said this informed the decision of the governors to commence wide consultations on who best qualifies to resolve the challenges of the country as the party’s presidential candidate. He said the party was also working towards winning the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections.

When asked if incumbent governors and former governors of the party who are also interested in the ticket would pose serious threat to the future of the party, he said: “Nigeria is a huge country and everyone has a place here. It is only those who do not understand governance that would think that there would be no place for everyone, what we are only praying for is that some people would not be too greedy.”

Related News

On what would happen to the likes of former Senate president, Bukola Saraki, who is reported to be eyeing the presidential ticket if the governors were trying to have their way, he said: “Saraki is a former governor. These present governors have what we call espirit de corps. Just like we have in the army and the police, we also have it in politics. I believe the governors are not thinking about themselves alone, it is about us protecting Nigeria and I believe they are also thinking about the good of the country. In a quiet moment, they would sit and ask if this is only about them, but it is not. It is about Nigeria, but because the governors have the financial means and have what it takes,  that is why they are consulting.”

On claims by Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, that President Muhammadu Buhari had performed better than his predecessors, Ogidi said: “Even a child knows that this administration has failed. In terms of security, economy, agriculture and every sector, you can judge for yourselves whether this administration has performed well. Nigerians have judged and even those who supported them before cannot come out in the open to support them again. Even on social media, if you mention the government, no one would want to hear about them. Nigerians have given them two terms to prove themselves, do you want us to give them the third one? I believe that Nigerians would give them the red card. They already have the yellow card because they have indirectly admitted it.”

Meanwhile, entrepreneur and youth development advocate, Mrs. Khadijah Okunnu-Lamidi, has called on Nigerian youths to stand up and contribute to the country’s political growth and development.

She made the call yesterday in Lagos at the formal declaration of her intention to run for the office of the president in 2023. She lamented that youths under the age of 30, who represent about 70 percent of Nigeria’s population, have been at the receiving end of bad go

“My ambition is to restore hope for a better Nigeria. I do not come to this lightly or out of vanity or frivolity. I come to this with humility and with responsibility and with the burden of a generation to whom the future of Nigeria belongs. Nigerians of our generation believe in the promise of an equitable and just political union which consolidates the diverse strengths of our people and which harnesses the vast untapped resources of our great nation for the common good. Nigerians of our gender believe that we are heirs to the same promise and that our contribution to the character, stability, peace and progress of Nigeria deserve recognition.”