Vice Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Datti Baba-Ahmed, has tackled Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, running mate to the presidential standard bearer of the People Democratic Party (PDP) following his comment that Mr. Peter Obi lacked enough experience to rule Nigeria.
Okowa had in an interview with BBC pigin said that Obi’s experience is small compared to the problems bedeviling the country. He advised the youths to be wise while electing their leaders come 2023 elections.
But reacting in an interview on ChannelsTV last night, Datti Baba-Ahmed challenged Okowa to present anyone that has experience more than his the former Anambra State Governor.
In his words: “It’s untrue that Obi does not have enough experience. He is more experienced than any of the contestants. Show me anyone who has more experience than peter Obi. None of them have as much as peter obi has.”
On structure, Baba-Ahmed argued that LP has a structure called ‘People-oriented structure, (Stratified structure)’.
He opined that himself and his principal were looking forward to having a “government in money and not money in government.”
Speaking in an interview with BBC pidgin, Okowa had urged youths to be circumspect in their support for the LP candidate as his only experience in governance was as Anambra State governor, which he described as insufficient to be saddled with the responsibility of ruling the country. He argued that Atiku was more experienced than Obi in Federal Government administration.
“I did not say he won’t have any votes, he will have. But what I’m saying is that he’s not a new candidate. It has not been long since he left PDP. You know he was in APGA before, from APGA he came to PDP. It has not been long since he left (PDP), so he cannot say anything about PDP because that’s where he was before.”
“Some of us are still here. At every party, there are good people and bad people. But today’s Nigeria is very troubled and we need the right person. That is why I am appealing to our youths to be wise and vote well, they should not be blinded by the concept of a false change because that is how they raved on Jonathan in 2015.
“His (Obi) previous experience is not enough for this one (presidency), it will be hard. His experience is not deep enough. Even as a current governor ruling in a time of crisis, I know how hard it is.
“I even want to learn under Atiku because he has experience with the federal government. The thing is not easy. For them to have handled the economy at that time and made it something better, offering hope, creating jobs, and filtering the society, was not easy because it’s a bigger thing. So someone is supposed to learn through that. If you look at Obi’s experience you’ll know it’s small.”
(Daily Sun, except headline)