Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum and governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has said that the All Progressives Congress, APC, must accept responsibility for the current woes bedeviling the country.

Okorocha was speaking to State House correspondents shortly after leading the APC governors to a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said although some of the problems predated the present administration, the party must take responsibility without shifting blame.

“As APC, we are responsible for everything happening in Nigeria. We are responsible for the good, the bad, the ugly but we are promising Nigerians that we shall fix it,” he said.

The governor admitted that the masses were passing through difficult times, but added that there was no surgery that is not painful.

He said Nigerians were experiencing pains because the country was going through what he called “a very serious economic surgery.”

He said: “We share the pains of Nigerians, every human being must feel it. We also feel what they are going through but we are asking for a little patience.

“Let us do things the right way and do it once and for all. I am sure that by next year, you will begin to see changes, the price of rice will drop, price of dollars will begin to stabilise and we will see a lot of challenges.

“But at this painful moment, nobody likes it. It is like a woman in the labour room, when she is in the labour room there is no joy but she has to pass through that moment and that moment, she does not wear her high heel shoes, no makeup, no champagne, no party.

“She is going through a process but shortly after that process, joy cometh once she sees the child. So, Nigerians should bear with us as a government,” Okorocha appealed.

He said the meeting with President Buhari was to discuss a number of issues including the released Chibok girls, agriculture, the ongoing anti-corruption war as well as the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State.