Peter Obi,
presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), says he will dialogue with
agitators if he’s elected president in 2023.
Speaking in an interview published on Thursday by Daily Trust, Obi said his approach
to tackling insecurity will be different, adding that he will govern by
listening to the people.
He said the northern part of the country has vast land for
farming, noting that his administration if elected, will invest in agriculture.
“I have said it times without number, Nigeria does not have more agitation than Brazil. If you want I will show you countries that have had agitations in the past, whether it is Brazil, Mexico,” Obi said.
“In our south-east,
it is a simple thing, I will dialogue, I will discuss, it is a democracy, and
in a democracy, you govern by consensus. If anybody says he is not happy, you
call him and you sit him down and discuss with him.
“People agitate in my house, my wife, my children. If you
say to me you have lived with your wife all through and you people have never
quarrelled, then you are not married. You disagree and settle it – that is
agitation.
“I will govern by listening to the people. I will visit
every state in Nigeria. We have a huge land in the north that if properly
invested and cultivated, will change Nigeria. The more I pull people out of
poverty, the more I reduce agitation, the more I reduce criminality.
“What you are seeing
in Nigeria today is a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years
and all I want to do is to be seen to be that man who changed this country
called Nigeria.
“I don’t like the way people were treated during the
EndSARS, I will apologise. We must have a country of healing and love, that is
what leadership in a democracy is.
“I am going to meet people in the north, I am going to meet
people everywhere and say come, let’s be a family. I want Nigerians to be proud
that they are Nigerians. What we have now is we have a country called Nigeria
but we don’t have Nigerians. I want to bring back Nigerians.”
‘I’M CONTESTING AS A NIGERIAN’
Obi called on Nigerians to evaluate him based on his
character and competence, rather than his tribe or religion.
The former Anambra governor said the fuel subsidy in the
country benefits the rich, adding that his administration would put an end to
it.
“I am contesting as a Nigerian, I don’t want people to vote
for me because I am an Igbo man or because I am from South East because people
don’t buy bread cheaper because they are from that zone,” he said.
“I don’t want anybody to vote for me because I am a
Christian; I don’t want them to vote because it is my turn, it is not
inheritance. It is the turn of Nigerians to take back their country. I want
them to vote for me because of character and competence, I have the capacity, I
have the commitment, I am qualified,” he said.
“The amount of fuel
they say we consume cannot be consumed by this country, there is empirical
evidence. We are about the same size as Pakistan, we are about 210, 220, Pakistan
is about the same size, they have more growth.
“We probably have the same number of vehicles or they have
even more but yet, their fuel consumption is a third of ours, so who is
drinking the balance? That is where we will start. So we will make it more
efficient.
“Subsidy benefits the
rich and famous because they are the ones who have five, ten cars, people in my
village, want education, they want health, so we will remove it and in removing
it, you must say what you are providing and we will use some of those resources
to make sure that we come up with local refineries, which are not rocket
science, within a shortest possible time and show people what you are doing and
you can do it, it can be done.
“Egypt is just exporting electricity now to Europe, Egypt is
a third-world country. If Egypt can do it, Nigeria can do it. I want people to
be proud of this country.”
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