The flagbearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said he is the most qualified Presidential candidate to turn around the fortunes of the country.
The former Governor of Anambra State stated this on Saturday at the first and second convocation ceremonies of the Dominican University, Ibadan.
The LP standard-bearer, who is the Pro-Chancellor of the university, said he has the physical and mental energy to move the country from a consumption to a production nation.
The former governor asserted that he has proved he could do the job in Anambra, adding that he would invest in health and education if elected as President.
He said, “My promise is a promise that I will deliver, is for us to look at our promises and how we will be able to deliver in parts.
“The job requires a lot of physical and mental energy; its for you to assess who is most likely to do the job, for me it is to secure and unite Nigeria, ensure that we move it from consumption to production that is the only way we can pull people out of poverty by creating jobs and creating opportunities and things we begin to turn around if we are able to do that.
“I will invest in health and I will invest in education; we will start from basic education to ensure that people are educated at the basic level, at the tertiary level we will find a combination that will enable us to work where our students will no longer go on strike.
“It’s not acceptable, we will pull people out of poverty, we would work hard to remove Nigeria from consumer to producer, and we would support the private sector, which in turn they will provide more jobs for our youths.”
Obi asserted that Ibadan requires a lot of federal presence due to its population and size, adding that little is being done for the state.
He, however, expressed optimism about his chances of securing maximum votes in the South West region of the country, especially Oyo State in the 2023 election.
He said: “Ibadan requires a lot of federal presence. Oyo is big, Ibadan in particular is a huge city, Ibadan is as big as Lagos.
‘Ibadan alone can compare to Lagos and in terms of population is huge is about four million people living in one city it requires special attention, it is huge, the infrastructures are there, there so many youths unemployed and I commend the Governor who I considered is doing a good job, but it needs federal government intervention to support the development.
“It’s a place we can think of if we want to invest in education, there are so many schools, and when it comes to medicine is also a center of excellence, people used to visit the College of Medicine, Ibadan but today the reverse is the case because people no longer come there. So there is a lot to do here, whenever I’m in Ibadan I feel at home, when I got to the palace today I was received with a very good and warm reception.”
Required Structure
Speaking further, Obi dispelled insinuations in some quarters that he did not have the required structure to forge him ahead in the forthcoming polls.
He said, “The structure is human being, the number one structure is God, the number two is human being and you people are my structure because you believe in me and in what I’m saying.”
“Whatever I say or I promise, I can do it, you can go and verify based on my past performances where I have passed through before, so what structure again do you want me to do?”
“The structure we have today is the structure of criminality, the structure of underdevelopment, the structure that has ruined the country, so the question is do you want to continue with the existing structure or do you want a new structure?”
Unverified Statistics Claims
Obi also berated the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) over claims that he always gives false and unverified statistics.
“If they said I give unverified statistics let them come with their alternatives, if you say I’m wrong let them provide their own, they cannot say I’m wrong if they failed to give their own, for every statement or statistic I made, if you look at ten I will get nine, quote me anywhere, and have always maintained over 75 percent. I know what I’m talking about, I’ve been there and I know what it takes; they have not shown anything,” Obi posited.
