From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, in Nnewi, Anambra State, said that Nigeria for the past ten years has been busy producing poverty, hunger and all manner of sufferings for its citizens.
Mr Obi said this on Wednesday when he addressed the traders during his campaign in the industrial community.
He declared that LP was on a rescue mission to renew Nigeria. In his analysis, Nigeria in 2012 had 65 million poverty-stricken people which he said had currently increased to 100 million.
“Datti and I have chosen to create a new Nigeria where there will be the security of lives and property. We are committed to putting people out of poverty, from consumption to production.
“All the closed factories in Nnewi will be reopened. We will return Nnewi to its lost glory.
“I built all the good roads in and around Nnewi when I was the Governor of Anambra State. I distributed buses to all schools in Anambra and gave SUVs to all traditional rulers. But today it is tax, tax, tax in Anambra, no breathing space.
“In this election, don’t vote on a tribal basis. I’m a proud Igboman but I’m contesting as the most qualified candidate.
“I have been a trader, a civil servant, manager of corporate organizations, among other positions, a Governor who never owed workers and pensioners in my state,” he said.
Obi told the Nkwo Nnewi traders and others who trooped out in their numbers to catch a glimpse of him that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) had failed Nigerians, making it expedient to give LP a chance this time to address problems of Nigeria.
“Under my watch, if your container is at the wharf for more than two weeks, it will be released to you free of charge, ” he told Ndi Nnewi
Obi explained that it was the first time people born after Nigeria Independence in the person of himself and Datti Yusuf were coming out to be Nigerian President and Vice. He said that the contestants from APC and the PDP were those born in the colonial days.
“The average age of people contesting under LP is 54 years; the average age of those contesting under the PDP platform is 71 years while those contesting under the APC for President are not known to me,” he said.
In his address, the immediate past PDP Governorship candidate in Anambra State, Mr Valentine Ozigbo said that God had heard the cries of Nigerians with the emergence of Mr Obi to contest for Presidency.
He said: “God has brought a change. Nigerians have agreed. East, West, North and South have agreed that Obi-Datti is the change God has approved for Nigerians. A new Nigeria is possible.
“There are 2.7 million voters in Anambra and we are optimistic that LP will clear all the votes. We also appeal that all LP candidates for Senate and House of Representatives across the state will be voted into the National Assembly, ” he said.
In the entourage was Aisha Yusuf who said that no Nigerian should be seen as a slave.
She noted that Nigerians had suffered dehumanization and insult in their own country which she said must be changed by Nigerians themselves with their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) come February 25.
Yusuf said it was the expectation of Nigerians that Obi and his Vice would be sworn in on May 29, 2023.
On arrival to Nnewi with a helicopter at DCC field, Nkwo Nnewi, Obi and his entourage drove straight to His Royal Highness, Dr Kenneth Orizu III, Igwe Nnewi where he received royal blessings.
He also visited the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Innoson Group, Chief Innocent Chukwuma before he left Nnewi.