The Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has said many of the presidential candidates for the 2023 elections lacked the requisite qualifications for the office, while advising Nigerians to investigate all the candidates to determine their suitability for the office.
Speaking at the Nigerian Guild of Editors Forum in Lagos on Monday, Obi advised that all the past activities of the presidential candidates should be probed to know their real character, competence, ability and their commitment to do the right things while in office.
The presidential candidate said that the 2023 elections would be critical to the nation and so candidates should not be elected based on certificates, but on character and merit.
“Many of the candidates don’t have reference point; people who are not known. People who cannot create wealth, cannot manage wealth,” he said.
Obi said that poor leadership had been the bane of governance in Nigeria, a reason successive leaders that made anti-corrupt promises failed woefully.
“Leadership changes everything,” Obi said and promised to change all the wastes and rascality in government if elected.
He also advised that the 2023 election should not be based on tribal sentiments, describing nepotism as the highest form of corruption.
“Next year’s election should not be about tribe. You should not vote for Peter Obi because he is an Igbo man. It should also not be about religion. These are the confusion people have brought to deceive us,” he said.
Obi promised to involve women and young people in governance if elected, stressing that women could be more productive than men if well engaged.
He cited the example of Bangladesh where many women were brought into positions of authority and were doing well.
“There is the need to drive the emotional asset of women into our system. Things we will invest in are where women are,” he said.
Obi said that Nigeria remained a poor country because of its failure to harness its abundant natural resources which some other countries, with same endowments, had turned into wealth.
He condemned the huge external debts being incurred by the current administration, but explained that there is nothing wrong with borrowing if the loans would be well used.
“I will borrow, but borrow for investments. Every borrowing must be properly explained. We will deal with it. Nations have gone over worse situations and survived it.
