Peter Obi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has explained why he would not prioritise probing the previous administration if he emerged president in 2023.
He said this on Friday while answering questions after he formally unveiled Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as his running mate for the 2023 elections.
According to him, his is to avoid distractions and to stop corruption.
He said, “As for probing the past government let me tell you, you see me argue that you can’t close your shop and be chasing thieves. Those who only look at yesterday and today will miss tomorrow. God did not give us eyes at the back, mine is to look forward.
“If you come into government today and decide to stop the leakage first, you will get more. I am not going to be part of any form of victimization or witch-hunt, it won’t happen. Nigerians must live within law and order.”
Obi added that many thought corruption was something impossible to deal with.
“But I can tell you right away if you the principal person, local government chairman, the governor or the president, are not stealing, your family is not, those around you are not, you will reduce it by 70 per cent.
“And I challenge everybody, go and show me anybody who was a contractor, who is a civil servant, who was a supplier, who will say in my eight years of being in government in Anambra State, I sat down with him and I said add one naira to this. I will resign I won’t continue with this (if it is true). That was why we were able to save about N70 billion naira.
“Go and read what my former Head of Service said. He wrote an article, ‘Stingeness as a development strategy’ because whatever money I saved when the civil servants were arguing with me, when I started paying them their dues, their leave allowance they started asking me where I got the money. Public money should be used for public good,” he said.
Announcing Baba-Ahmed as his running mate, Obi said he (Baba-Ahmed) was eminently qualified to bring his private sector and academic achievements to bear in the drive to rescue Nigeria from the primitive politics of ethnicity.
According to him, the LP will anchor its manifesto in coming days on the 17 goals of Sustainable Development Goals.
Leave a reply
The Editorial is a Platform for factual and precise news updates. Available to the readers 24/7 globally