The presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has urged the electorate to shun ethnic and religious sentiments when voting the next president of Nigeria come 2023.
Rather, he urged them to elect a president that has the capacity and capability to govern the country well.
Obi said this Monday at the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) Forum held in Lagos.
He said the coming presidential election should not be about ‘it is my turn, but the turn of Nigerians to decide who to govern them and govern them well.’
“Next year’s election will not be about tribes. Please do not vote for Peter Obi because he is from the South-East. It is not going to be my turn but the turn of Nigeria to take back their country. It is not tribe because the people in the south do not buy bread cheaper or show me where in the Southwest where they have uninterrupted electricity or roads that are meant for South-West people only.
“It is not about religion because I don’t see where Christians buy bread cheaper than Muslims. It is the confusion of the elite to continue to impoverish the people.
“I’m a Nigerian and I’m contesting this election as a Nigerian. We are about 18 people contesting this election but, some will be better in terms of Queens English, some will have better certificates but remember that certificate is not a measure of character and integrity.
“We are looking for people who will not steal our money. So, you need to examine all of us and know who to trust based on character, integrity and competence,” Obi said.
He said Nigeria needed to move from a consumption nation to a production country, noting that the foundation of Nigeria’s failure is that it is not a productive country.
“You don’t need any other study in Nigeria because it is obvious that we can feed ourselves. The Bank of Agriculture in Kaduna, I don’t need documents to resuscitate it because every bank in Nigeria is a shareholder and I will tell them who to lend money to.
“I have studied what happened to micro and small businesses and I will drive the process. I know what to do with the youths and I know how to change them because they have so much energy and talent. All these boys today they call Yahoo-Yahoo, it happened with India and all we need is to change their direction.
“The same talent they used in defrauding people, they will use to contribute to Nigeria’s economy but they need somebody they can trust,” he said.
