By Tony Okafor, Awka
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party( LP), Mr Peter Obi, has decried leadership failure in Nigeria as the country marks her 62 years independence anniversary, stating that over 50 percent of Nigerians are poor.
He said many Nigerians were already tired and frustrated with the leadership failure that had continued to burden the country for many years, saying that the coming election would present a ray of hope to the people for a new Nigeria, if things would be done correctly.
Obi who stated this in his Independence day Message to Nigerians, regretted that at 62, Nigeria had nothing to celebrate; rather, it continued to struggle under the weight of corruption, bad governance, insecurity, worsening economy, abuse of office and all manner of ills.
He lamented that each new day in Nigeria, instead of heralding progress and development, the people, already weakened by poverty and hardship, would further be burdened by new forms of societal malady.
He said, “After 62 years of independence, we are still experiencing constant collapse of our national grid, as many as 7 times in a single year; our universities have been shut for eight months; our inflation rate is at an all time high, as more than half of the population are battling extreme poverty; insecurity and violence are occurring at an alarming rate; oil theft is carried on with impunity and in all fronts – the nation bleeds.”
He said any further slip into retrogression would make the nation uninhabitable for the people, noting that many Nigerians were looking forward to the 2023 election because it presented them an opportunity to put an end to the leadership failures of the past and usher in a new and productive Nigeria.
Obi added, “The time has come for Nigerians to rescue their country from the clutches of failure, rascality and corruption that have held it down for long. That is the true independence Nigeria needs. We need independence from economic brigandage, tribal and religious disunity, poverty and unproductivity, poor quality education etc. The coming election in 2023 should be strictly based on competence, character and integrity for us to make progress in the country.”
Obi restated his readiness to move the nation forward, if elected, saying: “I stand by my resolve to move the nation forward, from consumption to production, from sharing formula to production formula. With this, we can build the New Nigeria of our dreams. Fellow Nigerians, let us take back our nation and build a better society for ourselves and our children.”
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