From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
A few days after his resignation from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, emerged on Monday as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party for next year’s election.
Obi, who was the 2019 running mate to the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, polled a total of 96 delegates votes out of the 98 votes cast during the primary held in Asaba, Delta State capital.
Returning Officer and chairman of the seven-member election committee, Usman Aliu Abdulahi, said 104 delegates were accredited for the exercise.
Abdulahi said one invalid vote was recorded while Prof. Pat Utomi who had earlier stepped down for Mr. Obi polled 1 vote.
Declaring Obi as the candidate, Abdulahi said: “Having satisfied all the requirements and having scored the highest number of votes, I hereby declare Mr Peter Obi as the presidential flag bearer of the Labour Party.”
In his acceptance speech, Obi thanked the leadership of the party and the delegates for electing, adding however that the task to rebuild Nigeria was the responsibility of all.
Obi charged the Labour Party faithful to go across all nooks and crannies of the country to bring out the votes during the presidential election.
He urged the three aspirants including Prof. Pat Utomi, 45-year old Joseph Faduri and Mrs Olubusola Emmanuel Tella to join hands with him to have a robust campaign across the country.
The high point was the presentation of the Labour Party flag to Mr Obi as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 election.
Earlier while addressing the delegates, Obi said the problem of Nigeria was leadership failure, saying that his simple mission to Aso Rock was to remove Nigeria from a consuming nation to a productive one.
According to him, the number solution to insecurity is pulling people out of poverty, adding that if elected, his administration would invest in education.
He said his administration would address the issue of power, curb waste in public expenditure and end the stealing of government assets.
As governor of Anambra State, Obi said he “left in Diamond Bank of Nigeria $50 million and N12 billion. I left Fidelity Bank $56 million and N12 billion. They are banks in Nigeria you can go and verify.
“I have got a simple mission, Nigeria is not a productive country. I just want to remove it from consumption, from sharing to production.
“If you listen carefully, you hear people talk about 100 million living in poverty. Why do we have insecurity as a problem? The number one to fight insecurity is to pull people out of poverty.
“When you have over 20 million out of school, then we have a problem, we will invest in education.”
On lack of electricity, Obi insisted that the leadership of Nigeria was not sincere about addressing it, noting that solving the problem of power was not rocket science.
“The first time this country borrowed money in September 1964 was when Tafawa Balewa wrote the World Bank for $82 million to build the Kainji Dam.
“And he said it then that he was applying it to build the facility, to generate 760 megawatts of electricity for the growth of the country.
“58 years after, we are still struggling with 4,000 megawatts. As of today, Nigeria is owing $120 billion. Imagine if we had used that money for power, we would have been generating over 40,000 megawatts of electricity. But we consumed the money, and that is why we find it difficult to service debt.
“If you have 40,000 megawatts of electricity, you will be able to set up industries and factories in all the local government areas.
“We are a people of 200 million and we are generating 4,000. South Africa is just 60 million but they are generating 54,000 megawatts. Egypt with a 100 million population is generating 54,000. What will shock you is that Egypt doubled their own, between 2016 and 2020. It was 22,000 in 2016.
“It can be done in Nigeria, it is not rocket science, what we need here is a leader with a vision, capacity, and competence to deliver.
“Go and ask about what I did in Anambra State. I will show you that this country called Nigeria will start seeing the face of hope if we all work hard to bring in a new government that would harness people’s talents to march up to their opportunities, a government that would plug leakages and curb wastage, a government that can look into the future of our children and say we cannot continue this gangsterism and stealing of government assets,” Obi stated.
