By Chuks Collins, Awka
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi has asked the electorate to insist on a direct contact/address by the presidential candidates, and to ignore messages of those speaking through proxies.
Obi who dropped the wise counsel while addressing Nigerian citizens in Frankfurt, Germany who came out in large numbers to welcome him, at the weekend, said every candidate should come before Nigerians with their agenda to make Nigeria work.
Apparently irked by outlandish unfulfilled bogus and phantom promises of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of 2015 and 2019, Obi asked electorates to do background checks on all presidential candidates this time, before listening to whatever promises they make.
He said, “When you listen to us, go and check our background, this is not a time for somebody to show us his qualifications, I live in Nigeria and I know Nigeria and what Nigerians need. I am not a stranger to Nigeria’s problems.
He said, “I am a trader but I have a privilege to go to some of the best of schools like Oxford, Cambridge, and other Ivy League institutions, but I always say to people that educational qualification is not the same as integrity.
“Listen to all the presidential candidates not through proxy. Let anyone who wants to be your President come forward himself and speak to you directly, because he is the one you will hold responsible for whatever happens to Nigeria under his care.
“This campaign is not a campaign you are going to speak through somebody, that person needs to come and directly tell us what he is going to do for our country and we must take note of whatever he says and hold him by his words.
“We also don’t want one that would be carried to this place in a wheel chair, but must consider his capacity, competence, integrity and commitment.”
Talking about racism, Peter Obi said, “I don’t see any country as racist. If you think your host country is racist you can go back to your country. The reason why you are here is because your place is not working.
“So, it is our duty to turn things around in Nigeria for the good of our country.
“Somebody asked me a question about going to look for foregin investors , I said Nigerians outside are going to do what China and India did.
“It is good for us to go back and fix our place, we need to secure it and it is important for our place to have proper leadership that is visionary, there is nothing happening in other countries that is rocket science, a country is measured by its productive capacity.
“Somebody asked me what are we going to do to stabilize the naira and I said it is very simple; production, because the more you produce goods and export , the more your currency becomes stronger, if you are looking for dollars and Euro, just go and sell something to somebody that has euro and dollar and your currency will become strong.
“We will ensure security of lives and bring stability to governance .
“Our human capital today is low, we have 200 million people with barely ten percent productive capacity. You also need to reduce the cost of Governance and have zero tolerance for corruption. People cannot continue to do what they are doing with government resources.”
He promised to provide opportunity for diaspora Nigerians to vote in the 2027 elections if elected president next year.
The Labour Party’s Presidential candidate also assured that Africa will remain the centerpiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy as it will improve diplomatic sphere of influence via peacekeeping, trade, and investment initiatives.
