Saturday’s presidential election, march to freedom by Nigerians - Peter Obi

 

The Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, has described next Saturday’s presidential election as a march to freedom by Nigerians.

He pointed out that poll offered Nigerians an important opportunity to reset and reboot country for the better once and for all.

Obi insisted that Nigeria was not bereft of robust human capital necessary for good governance, but only bedeviled by the impunity of a few individuals who had perfected the dubious act of “state capture”.

The Labour Party candidate, who stated this during a Zoom meeting with his supporters at the weekend, added that issues of national interest must be addressed urgently.

He said, “Fellow Nigerians, we are down to crunch time – seven days to the main day. Our strength is in our diversity. We need to reset and reboot Nigeria in all ramifications –leadership and governance, security of life and properties, economic and political freedom.

“We must celebrate our shared values and responsibilities. In this march to freedom, I have not come out for myself. I have come out for the millions of youths that are losing hope in our beloved country. Datti and I wish to deliver a new Nigeria that is possible.

“I have come out for the millions of women who are afraid of tomorrow and what it holds for them and their children. I have come out for the poor who are asking whether it’s a sin to be a Nigerian, For them, I have come. For them, Datti has come.

“Our message has been consistent. Nigeria is not bereft of the required human capital necessary for good leadership. Nigeria is also not bereft of good governance ideas and plans.

“However, our country is bedeviled by the impunity of those few who have perfected the dubious act of state capture. These national interest issues need to be addressed urgently. The process will start in earnest on February 25.”

The former Anambra State governor said if elected President, he would tweak the national security architecture to make it more efficient.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Peter Obi/ Yusuf Datti Presidential Campaign Council of Labour Party, Chief Akin Osuntokun, said on Sunday that with Obi as President, “familiar problems such as unemployment, insecurity, hunger, scarcity of money, high price of fuel, high cost of food, incessant strikes, among several others will become history.”

Osuntokun spoke in Ado Ekiti during a town hall meeting of LP members from the 16 council areas of Ekiti State.

He said, “The coming elections will determine whether Nigerians are actually ready to change their destiny and chart a new course for themselves. But I can assure Nigerians that if Peter Obi emerges as the next President, he will put an end to all the agonies they are made to face as a result of uncaring leadership,” he said.

On his part, the chairman of Labour Party in Ekiti State, Mr Odunayo Okunade,  “Going by the experience of Nigerians, parties like APC and PDP parading broom and umbrella have no good plans for the country and do not have the competence to run the country effectively.”

In a related development, a former governorship aspirant in Kogi State, Bayo Averehi, called on Nigerians to give Obi as chance to repair the country, which he said had been battered by both the  the ruling All Progressive Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.

Addressing a press conference in Lokoja on Sunday, Averehi said, “Nigerians gave PDP 16 good years to fix things in this country, but the problem persisted. The issue of power outage, unemployment, strike, kidnapping, insecurity, persisted. We went ahead to give the APC eight years to fix and change things, but unfortunately, the situation escalated.

“Now it is time to give another party an opportunity to fix this country. It is time to give Labour Party and Peter Obi an opportunity to put things right.”