Fides Media Living the Faith
– Insists Nigeria Needs Stingy President, not Looters
By Ikeugonna Eleke
The Labour Party Presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, has taken a swipe at his political opponents, saying that Nigeria’s presidency is neither a retirement home nor a place where people wait for turns.
Obi was referring to the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and that of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, both of whom are in their 70s. Tinubu had once insisted that it was his turn to be president of Nigeria.
Obi who was in Anambra for a town hall meeting with students, private meeting with traditional rulers and a rally, last Tuesday, said he was capable of fixing Nigeria.
Speaking at a meeting with traditional rulers of the state, Obi said, ‘It is not a turn by turn affair but about capacity but if it is about turn, people like us would insist that it is our turn and should be considered.
‘The job of a president is not a retirement loan or for any kind of settlement but about uniting and rebuilding the country.
‘When you look at me and my running mate, you will discover that we are young, compared with the other candidates who are older.
‘When you talk about qualification, I am the most qualified and the youngest among them and this is not a job for rehabilitation of people because Nigeria needs a strong and vibrant person as president and one that is in tune with the trending and modern style of leadership, so that our country will be counted among the comity of great Nations in the world,’ he said.
Reacting to insinuations that he was stingy, Obi said he owed nobody any apology for being stingy.
‘They say that I am a stingy man, and I say it’s better they didn’t say that I am extravagant or that I embezzled public funds. They only said that I am stingy, and I tell you, the job and the presidency of our country need a stingy person,’ Obi said.
At the town hall meeting with youths, Obi noted that the issue of industrial action by university lecturers would be tackled under his administration, adding that the revenue from petroleum products, which people were sharing, was about the sum lecturers were demanding.
‘Why would our universities be on strike? There is no justification for that because people are interested in sharing oil money, and they are not producing anything. Come to think of it, the money that they are stealing is about the amount that can be used to fix our universities and educational system,’ he said.