From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Presidential campaign of the Labour Party(LP) which continued in Owerri,the Imo State capital almost paralised business activities as most traders and artisans thronged the Kanu Nwankwo Sports Stadium to listen to the party’s Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and his deputy,Yusuf Datti Ahmed.
The mammoth crowd had waited patiently until Obi who treked to the venue from Imo State University(IMSU) junction where he alighted with heavy cheers from the crowd. He was accompanied by some students and members of some of his support group.
Obi in his speech promised to priotise education and make incessant strike actions witnessed in Nigerian schools to be a thing of the past.
He also reiterated his stance on the country dweling into production by exportations and not importations and consumption alone, even as he further promised Imo State to be a great palm oil exporter in Nigeria.
Obi said “One thing I will assure you the students,i and professor Datti,we would take education serious ,no more strike ,we would sit down and negotiate with lecturers ,education is serious to us ,you can’t differentiate a prosperous nation from education.
“I and Datti,go and check our track records,we are not here for fake promises,we want to take back Nigeria and give it back to the youths and women ,we would invest in education and health .
“We assure Imo people we would come back to Imo ,any programme we are doing,we would do it from here . Imo government receives statutory allocation from Abuja,70 to 80 billion naira,some even receive more than that from the federal government.
“Imo State has great potentials, today Malatia has potentials of export ,they export crude oil,Imo State can import palm oil, they have Adapalm,they can export petroleum, we would go back to agriculture, our people can no longer be hungry .
The Labour Party Presidential candidate also said his administration will no longer condone stealing of government funds.
“We assure you that we would export oil from Owerri to Port Harcourt ,we would prioritise export,we would make sure that young people who have energy would be able to participate in running the government.
“My deputy was senator, he did not steal money,go and varify,that is why we are tired of those people in government stealing money ,if you find out that i allocate a piece of land to myself or wife ,i will stop running,I don’t run contract.” Obi assured.
Also speaking on the insecurity situation in the State,he said “i will stop insecurity,vote for our candidates in all the positions, we would help repair the State and end insecurity”. He assured.
