The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said that the major factor Nigerians should consider in choosing their next president is competence and not it is my turn agenda, ethnicity, or religion.
Obi stated this while speaking on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’, said that Nigeria is currently in a comatose state and needs a specialist like him to save its life.
He made the statement while responding to a question regarding the seeming deadlock between his party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) on their alliance for the 2023 presidential election.
On the position of NNPP, presidential candidate, Rabiu Kwakwanso, that he would not bend backward to accept the vice-presidential ticket, Obi said 100 million Nigerians were in poverty today because of the mentality exhibited by his senior comrades.
In his words: “We choose to vote for incompetence based on a primitive consideration of ethnicity and religion. Tell me, today, you can’t travel from Abuja to Kaduna by air, by road, or by train. Is it because somebody from the South-East is in charge? You can’t travel from Abuja to Minna by road, is it because somebody from the South-East is in charge? Yesterday, we had an attack on the presidential convoy in Katsina, is it because a person from the South-East is in charge? Show me where you can buy food cheaper.” You have not talked about electricity, or people are prospering in the North because northerners are in power? In the South-West, because they are in power or in the South-East.”
While appealing to Nigerians to jettison politics of religion and ethnicity, Obi said it was high time Nigerians chose their leaders on the basis of merit and competence.
“What we have chosen to do in this country is that we consistently hire vehicle drivers to fly the Nigerian airplane, instead of qualified pilots. My commitment is, to let our campaign deal with issues on problems within the country. There are a lot of problems besieging this country.
“If you don’t know today, this country will soon default on its debt servicing. This is what should be preoccupying us now. Universities have shut down and we are talking about who we’ll vote for. Let’s deal with the issues. This election will not be based on ‘my turn’. It will not be based on ethnicity. It will not be based on religion. It will be based on a Nigerian agenda to save this Nigeria. Nigeria is in a coma, and it needs a specialist, and that is what I’m offering to save its life or it will die. I’m appealing to people to vote to save Nigeria, and to save Nigeria is to hire the best”, he said.
On his choice of running mate, Obi said, he preferred a younger person who has something to offer to complement his ticket rather than recycling old hands who had been in the government before now.
“I prefer younger people with fresh ideas who have a lot to offer rather than recycling old hands. I want a competent person and I am building a formidable team.
“I want people who can look me in the eye and disagree with me during cabinet meetings. People who have their own minds and ideas. If you agree with me in three meetings then you are gone because that means you don’t have your own ideas. I want people and cabinet members who can say ‘Mr. President, you are wrong”, he said.
On when he released his manifesto, he said rather than a manifesto, he had practiced all that he is preaching and the records are there for Nigerians to verify.
Obi also held that his party and organized labor have never been opposed to the removal of subsidies.
He said the reason the labor union has been critical of the subsidy regime was that the government has not been able to show anything for it.
He further expressed concern that the Nigerian government could have better utilized the funds currently being expended on subsidies.
Report By Lukman Olabiyi
