Obi to youths: Vote based on competence — this election is about you

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, on Friday said the 2023 elections are about youths and they should seize the opportunity to make their mark.

Obi said this when he featured at a Town hall engagement with students of University of Abuja, organised by the University’s Leadership Center in Abuja .

The candidate, who gave facts and figures of where Nigeria was and where it would be if voted in as President on Feb. 25, said education would not suffer under his watch and there would be no industrial action.

He said that all the problems of the country, be it economic, education, health, politics and so on, revolved around political leadership that had failed the country over the years.

Obi said that leadership failure over the years and the refusal to do the right thing at the right time had been responsible for the challenges in the country.

“The next election is about you, the youths and you must seize the opportunity to take back the country by insisting that character, competence and antecedents guide your decision, not religion, tribe and region or my turn because in truth it is the turn of the teeming Nigerian youths who are wasting.

“The reason my manifesto is centered on turning the country from consumption to production is to stop the country from recycling poverty.

“The only thing this country is manufacturing is poverty, and Datti and I are coming to change all that because no country grows by consumption, without production.

“Poverty is increasing in Nigeria because we are not investing enough in education and health which is what makes the difference between a rich and a poor country.

“I am assuring you that all that will stop under my watch,” Obi said.

According to him, life expectancy globally should be about 72 years but it is 55 years in Nigeria because of the growing level of poverty in the country that is so blessed.

“This country should not be poor given its abundant natural and human resources ,” he said.

Obi said that with his running mate Datti, they would halt the drift and position the country as the giant of Africa as professed by all.

He said that securing the country remained their number one priority because nothing, no matter how laudable, could be achieved without a secured environment.

The candidate said that his administration would negotiate with agitators and deal with those who might be recalcitrant and uncooperative because there could only be one government in a country at a time.

Obi said that if given the opportunity, he would remove fuel subsidy the first day in office because it has been turned into a huge racket of corruption.

Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, commended Obi for visiting the school to inspire students.

Na’Allah said that the aim of the town hall meeting was to discuss issues around politics, adding that “intellectual engagement is the basis of political leadership.”

He said that there was need to scrutinise those aspiring to govern the nation and they should be made to answer questions.