Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, has urged Nigerians to vote for competent persons, who are mentally and physically prepared for the task of providing leadership for a sick nation such as ours.
Obi, made the appeal in an interactive session with students of the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, UNEC, Business School, in Enugu, yesterday. The interactive session was entitled: ‘State of the Nigerian Economy: The Way Forward.”
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He also spoke at a rally in Enugu, where he said the LP Obi-Datti ticket was the best equipped and prepared to move the country forward.
In a veiled reference to the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, he said;
In the United States during the election, they go for debates, somebody once asked Barack Obama questions that were personal and he answered.
But here in Nigeria, somebody wants to contest the election, we don’t know his real age, we don’t know his name, we don’t know the schools he attended. Nobody knows his real identity.
My name is Peter Obi, I can say I went to CKC, went to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Both the VC and DVC today, were my schoolmates. We came to University the same year and left the same year.
The people I went to school with, I can see them here today, my seniors and my juniors. How come we now have people who do not have classmates? This is very important. This is all about character and people we can trust.
The LP candidate explained that an honest person does not pretend to be someone he is not and is not afraid to tell people the truth about himself.
Obi cited the example of Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, legal luminary and founder of Afe Babalola University, ABUAD, Ado-Ekiti, who he described as an upright Nigerian, who isn’t ashamed of his background.
He said;
Afe Babalola once told me he never had the opportunity of going to a formal school. There is nothing wrong with that. There are so many people who have done well in life and never went to formal school.
This country is sick and should not be handed over to a sick person. I am not saying that anyone is sick. We have been here for over two hours, we don’t want people who can’t stand for 30 minutes.
If you say you will fight corruption, let’s go to the road you have passed and see what is remaining there after you left.
This year’s election must be based on competence. This job requires physical and mental energy. It is not a retirement job.
Vows to end incessant ASUU strikes
Obi also promised to end incessant industrial unrest by university lecturers that has crippled Nigeria’s university education, if elected, saying “We will not have one day of ASUU strike.”
Lamenting the frequent strikes being witnessed in the Nigerian universities, recalling that in his days at UNN as a student they never witnessed any strike.
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He further stated;
Universities should be well funded. There is nothing big about funding the universities. Funding a university is the collaboration of everybody. Education is not an expense but an investment. We’ll make sure that nothing stops education.
To encourage university education, Obi said that students could be given loans to study and repay the loans after graduation and when they have started working.
