Elder statesman and former labour leader, Chief Frank Ovie Kokori, has expressed worry about the level of insecurity and corruption in the country.

He congratulated All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his victory at the party’s primary election last Wednesday in Abuja.

Kokori, a former Secretary General of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), spoke at the weekend about state of the nation and Asiwaju Tinubu.

He said: “Nigeria is in a state where 300 students can be kidnapped at a go; a train load of passengers can be hijacked and people worshipping in a church can just be killed at will. Life has become so cheap and brutal.

“Is this still not the same Nigeria some of us grew up in in the 1960s and 1970s? This generation of Nigerians prays everyday for a better life.

“So many Nigerians are trooping abroad. I always shed tears when I see my people, young Africans, dying in the deserts and high seas while trying to cross over to other countries.

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“Nigeria was the hope of Africa, and we enjoyed it up till the 1970s to the early 1980s. When we fought for freedom and democracy, we thought that after gaining what we fought for, our country would be a better place for everybody.

“But right from the days of (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo, it has been oppression, victimisation and exploitation by the same people we struggled to put in power.”

Kokori expressed the confidence that Asiwaju Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, is poised to make Nigerians proud, irrespective of their tribe or religion.

“I don’t think there’s a better candidate than Asiwaju Tinubu who can …rescue Nigeria finally,” he said.

While appealing to northern leaders and governors to ensure Asiwaju Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 general election, Kokori suggested that the APC candidate should be given a free hand to pick his running mate.

Examining President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the past seven years, the veteran labour leader noted that the Federal Government under him has not achieved much, especially in the areas of security and corruption.

“President Buhari is a good man; there is no doubt about that. But he is not in touch with the people in the country and with what is happening in this country.

“This is because he surrounded himself with a cabal that is so ruthless and which always struggles for its personal aggrandisement to the extent that it monetises public positions across this country.

“Nobody should pretend. We all know that most of the positions in the country were being monetised and sold out by the cabal.”