Gov Emmanuel meets Buhari, Says Nigerians must work together

AKWA Ibom State governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, on Tuesday, met behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, stressing the need for Nigerians to work together to move the country forward.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents after the meeting, he disclosed that he was there to brief the president on the security situation in his state.

The governor said he met the president to give him feedback on the activities in Akwa Ibom State, saying “I am still serving a state and the state is within the country and the president is the father of the whole country.

“I think it is part of my responsibility to let the president know from time to time, how things are being done and how we are faring.”

Noting that he did not make any specific request to the president, Emmanuel added: “Not really a request, but a feedback. Atimes, feedback could even be more effective than request, because feedback is necessary for further actions and other things you want to do.

“But I also want to use this platform as well to say that we are all running one project, which is ‘project Nigeria’.

“If we are running project Nigeria, all hands must be on deck to move the country to the level we all expect and dream of.

“I think that is the essence of the whole thing. And keep letting everybody know that at this point, it is a time everybody must join hands to work for the whole country and see what we can do both from the state to the Federal Government level, to at least support the vision of making Nigeria reach where we want it to be.”

On whether the continued restiveness in the Niger Delta featured in their discussion, the governor said they discussed what he called “the well-being of Nigerians.”

According to him, “well, I don’t know whether you want me to redefine that word restiveness, but permit me to also say you are still pushing me to discuss security which we don’t discuss on camera.

“Spare me that today, but rather than calling it restiveness, I will say everything we discuss is about the well-being of Nigerians; how we can make their situation better. I think that is the way I look at it.

“Whether you look at it from security, infrastructure, or any angle, that is the ultimate,” he said.