The vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Peter Obi, has described the next presidential election as a battle between darkness and light.
Speaking at Agulu, during a lecture organised by African Community of Transformers with the theme, ‘South-East Political Culture: Peter Obi as Paradigm Shift’, Obi said Nigerians have the opportunity now to choose between the two alternatives.
Obi urged Nigerians to choose a system that “will start working again through tackling of employment and creating a new Nigeria that would provide the basic needs of Nigerians” or “remain stuck to the country’s present economic backwardness”.
According to him, he agreed to contest with Alhaji Abubakar Atiku because they shared the vision of making Nigeria work again.
The lead lecturer and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof Chinyere Stella Okunna, in a lecture entitled ‘Nigeria’s Ailing Economy: Focus on Peter Obi Leadership Style’, described Obi’s emergence on the Nigerian political scene as phenomenal.
Okunna described Obi’s leadership as “extraordinary and transformational”.
Explaining the secrets of Obi’s success in governance, Okunna said the former Anambra State governor worked with a team, identified needed change, created a vision to guide the change through inspiration and went on to execute the change along with committed members of his team.
Okunna said she agreed with other Nigerians that Obi’s emergence as the vice presidential candidate was one of the best things that had happened to Nigeria.
She said with Obi’s emergence, Nigerians will enjoy a leader that “possesses the capacity to achieve extraordinary things; is daring enough to seek transformation; embodies the right values to raise followers to higher levels of morality; possesses the charisma and enthusiasm to inspire and motivate followers to change things; is imbued with vision to guide change in the right direction and possesses the intellectual stimulation to think out lasting solutions”.
The university don noted that the Atiku and Obi have the capacity to solve Nigeria’s problems, including unemployment, deplorable infrastructure, militancy, the weakness of the naira, pervasive poverty, poor performance of the power sector, and health and educational challenges. (Punch)
