Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi has urged Nigerians to choose between thieves and stingy people in the 2023 general elections.
He said,”They say I’m stingy. Between those who stole and those who saved them, who do you prefer? If our previous leaders were stingy, we wouldn’t have been where we are today.
He promised to increase international airports in the country to six, just as he pledged to end flooding in Nigeria by dredging river Niger and Benue.
Obi spoke on Tuesday at the All Saints Cathedral field, Onitsha, Anambra State during the party’s Presidential Campaign flag-off which witnessed mammoth crowd of party chieftains and faithful.
He said what stood him out from other party candidates remained the rare combination he and his running mate enjoy, saying both of them are wealth creators with capacity to manage it.
He said, “All we’re coming to do is to end suffering and build a new Nigeria. Nigeria today, nobody is safe, family begging to eat. We’ll secure and unite Nigeria.
“What I did in Anambra, I’ll do in Nigeria. We’ll negotiate, but whoever that refuses, we’ll tell him there’s government.
“Anambra is a trading and manufacturing city, we’ll support all businesses in the state. We’ll do same in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Borno. Every part of Nigeria will be productive.
“We’ll open roads. Any tarred road in Onitsha was tarred by me. I built the best road network in Nigeria. Those who left Nigeria will come back; we’ll face exportation to stabilize and reverse naira if we assume power.
“The difference between us and others, there’s no combination. If you’ve not created wealth, you can’t manage it. Datti and I are businessmen. The only way Nigeria can change is to hand it over to wealth creators.
“The more you employ people, you’ll pull them out of poverty. I’ll fight poverty and out of school children in Nigeria. All parts of Nigeria will celebrate me.
“The work of a leader is not to complain but to find solutions. We’re not going to remind you of your past, but build your future. We’ll use factor endowment, taking advantage of oil in South South, groundnut in North.
“We’ll ensure police won’t harras you again. We’ll recruit more officers and train them to know how to relate with the public.”
Obi’s running mate, Yusuf Datti said he decided to work with Obi because of his belief in justice, equality and fairness.
He asked Nigerians to hold them responsibile if they fail in their promises, insisting that the February 25 election was good as won.
He said, “The joy and fun I’m having here has made me forget the cost of foodstuffs in the market, and forget they’re stealing our money.
“APC is being deceived by your money in their pockets, and PDP who forgets easily is being deceived by the small money in their pockets they want to spend. This election is good as won.
“Peter Obi is shining star who will move the country from consumption to production. With Obi and I under the OBIdient movement, noting will stop us from rescuing Nigeria.
“The very day we’re inuaguarated, we’ll stopped killing and stop healing. Recently, bandicts released their abductors simply because they identified themselves as OBIdients.”
National Chairman, Julius Abure said people of the state were lucky to have their son as the party’s flag-bearer for the election.
He said, “Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have come to Anambra because we would have taken it for granted that you’re all OBIdient. But because of bad eggs we’re here. In every society, you have both forces of light and darkness, but the former will always outshine the later.
“Onitsha has always produced great leaders and another one is about to happen. Any opportunity lost can’t be regained. We must give Obi 99.9%.
“If there’s any person that will say it’s my turn, it’s Obi. Anambra people are very lucky. We’re not saying you should vote for us because it’s our turn, but because we have competent and capable candidates.”
State Chairman, Ugochukwu Umeh described Obi as tested and trusted and would not disappoint.
“We tasted him as Governor and are sure he won’t disappoint us. We appeal to Nigerians to give them opportunity to serve them, we will not be disappointed after their tenure.
Wife of LP flag-bearer, Mrs Magret Obi urged eligible voters to go for their Permanent Voters Cards, describing it as their only weapon to vote out bad leaders.
She also assured that election would hold in Southeast and would be peaceful.
“You’ve shown that we have people and you’re behind us. In LP, we have the best team Nigeria can get. A new Nigeria is about to be born. We women have the worth to birth it. With 75 % of us. We’ll give Obi 100%.
South-East Zonal Coordinator of Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene said the battle to rescue Nigeria is not Peter Obi’s, but you and I.
“We thank Obasanjo, Clark and Odebanjo for endorsing Obi, we expect same from Igbo leaders. Why are we afraid?” he said.
On his part, former gubernatorial candidate in Anambra, Valentine Ozigbo: We have 2.7m votes in Anambra, we’ll give him all because he’s the best governor in Anambra and will be the best president.
