From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
A presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, yesterday, appealed to party faithful to prevail on the leadership of the party to support the aspirant with a proven track record and not the one who will sway the minds of Nigerians with ‘grammar’ and mere promises.
He made the appeal when he met with the Edo State PDP delegates at the party’s secretariat in Benin City.
Obi said he has a proven track record as the then governor of Anambra State and that Nigerians can verify his claims.
“I am appealing to you let us change it by ensuring that our party brings out a competent, credible candidate with a proven track record and not grammar, not say I promise this. Luckily, Edo State is not far from Anambra State.
“I have Anambra people here, ask them, most of them will even tell you that they are not happy with me because I can tell you the problem I had with them when I was a governor and which will likely to happen maybe with the political elites if I become president.
“The big ones may not be happy with me but you, you will be, to make sure that the right thing is done, we must pull out our children from poverty by supporting micro, small medium businesses”, he said.
Obi stated Nigerians now live in fear due to the level of insecurity in the country noting that all these are narrowed down to leadership failure and that something urgent needs to be done collectively to correct the situation.
“We now live in a country where we wake up everyday to sad news. You might think it is not happening in Benin, some of us think it is not happening in Lagos, some people think it is not happening in Enugu, or in Akwa but I assure you, unless you do something, it will happen in those places.
“What we are witnessing in Nigeria today, is a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years and it is going to go round”, he said.
The former governor of Anambra State said the rate of poverty in the country is higher than the two most populous countries in the world.
” Your country today has more people living in poverty than any other countries in the world. I will shock you before COVID-19 and immediately after COVID-19, Nigeria has more people living in poverty than the two biggest nations of the world combined, China and Indian, 2.8 billion people living in these two countries but in Nigeria, a country of two hundred million, more people are living in poverty.
“We are looking at the future of Nigeria. We don’t want to wake up and Nigerians are talking about there is no food. How can we be talking about food? Today, Nigerians spend more than 100 percent of their incomes in feeding. If I say to you today, no matter what somebody gives you today, buying foodstuff has become a problem let alone of looking after your children. So, it is a crisis situation that we all have to deal with”, he lamented..
He said his administration will support micro, small medium businesses noting that they are the drivers of any given economy.
He,however, said he is not opposed to zoning of the presidential slot but he believes in equity, justice and fairness.
Responding, the Edo state chairman of the party, Tony Aziegbemin promised to go out of their way to support his presidential ambition.