TheCable

Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, says Nigerians are looking forward to the return of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to power in 2023.

The 2019 presidential candidate of the PDP spoke on Thursday during an interview with journalists after a meeting with Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

Atiku said he came to discuss with Wike on how to ensure unity and stability in the PDP for the party to take over in 2023.

Commenting on the state of the nation, the former vice-president said he hasn’t seen Nigeria in such a “bad” state like this in his years of existence.

“I came here to reconcile with the governor (referring to Wike) on party affairs and how we can ensure there is unity and stability of our party so that we will take over government in 2023,” he said.

“I believe Nigerians can’t wait for 2023 to come so that PDP will return.

“I have never seen it this bad, I’m seventy plus. I have never seen it this bad in terms of security challenges, in terms of unemployment. I have never seen it so bad — this is worst.”

The former vice-president said the PDP will unveil what it has for Nigerians when the time comes, noting that under the PDP, the country has the best foreign reserves.

“Why can’t you give us time. We will come up with our policies. We will present to Nigerians when the time comes,” he said.

“You know we can do that. We have done that before in PDP. We recorded the highest growth in this country, the best foreign reserves. We reduce unemployment. You know that we can do it.”

He added that Wike is the “topmost” governor in the PDP in terms of projects, youth employment, and security.

“I think he is topmost governor in the party. There is no doubt about that, in terms of projects, in terms of youth unemployment, in terms of security,” he added.

“Yes, we have security challenges all over the country but in Rivers, it is not as bad as other states.”