Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, said Nigerians should focus more on tackling the current insecurity and crude oil theft rather than the All Progressives Congress Muslim-Muslim ticket.

He said this while speaking with state house correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, to seek approval for the upgrade of some institutions.

Fielding a question about the APC’s choice of presidential ticket for next year’s elections, the governor said, “I want to use this opportunity to invite you people (the media) to prioritise our area of interest. First, the mood of the country today is not about who the candidates are.

“The mood of the country is that two or three years ago, we were producing 2.1 million barrels of crude oil every day.

“For over 12 years, that has been our main source of foreign exchange. Suddenly, because of the activities of those who are of anti-national interests, we’ve lost over a million barrels and barely managed to produce one million.

“I think we should rise in unison to condemn the activities of crude oil theft by anti-Nigerian interest groups and bring back the economy of the country, because, you have to have a country first before you have a President.

“Look at the quantum of banditry going on in Nigeria today, to the extent that bandits are courageously even coming into the capital city. We should rise in unison and condemn these activities.

“So, let us allow political parties who have chosen their candidates, no matter the religion where they come from, to go out and do their campaign. It is left for the electorate to reject the ticket by not voting for them, or accept the ticket by voting for them. But, if we continue to make these things headlines, you are hitting up our polity unnecessarily. I want to beg you in the name of God, let us save our country,” he said.