Obi to Nigerians: I’m not desperate to be your president
Peter Obi, politician and former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, has said that he is not desperate to become Nigeria’s president.
Obi, who was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressivs Grand Alliance at separate times, picked the LP ticket in 2023 but lost to incumbent President Bola Tinubu.
He made the statement in the remarks he gave at the Leadership newspaper’s award ceremony, receiving ‘Politician of the Year 2023’ award.
“I am not desperate to be president, I am desperate to make Nigeria work,” Obi stated.
Obi , at the event, reiterated his reservation to the donation of 25,000 metric tonnes of wheat from war-torn Ukraine to Nigeria.
He stated that the donation signified Nigeria facing a dire economic situation.
“We have no reasons to be poor. Poverty should never be part of our lives especially in the North,” Obi said.
“Ukraine has no reason to give us grain. Niger State can feed Nigeria, Africa with over 73, 000 square meters of land.
“The two biggest states in the North-East, Borno with over 70,000 square metres of land and Taraba, are four times the size of Belgium that is exporting food.
“There is so much we can do in the country if we have the right leadership. The more you remove people out of poverty, the more you have less criminals,” Obi said.
The United Nations agency’s World Food Programme has said the donation is for Nigerians facing humanitarian crisis in the northeast.
In his pushback, Minister of information Mohammed Idris, who was also at the award ceremony, said that “the fact that we are having challenges at the moment does not make Nigeria a failed state.”
He added, “Egypt gets about 60 per cent of its grains from Ukraine. The fact that Egypt gets about 60 per cent of its grains from Ukraine does not make it a failed state.
“Therefore, accepting grains from Ukraine does not make Nigeria or Egypt failed countries, it is a normal thing, because countries exist to depend on one another.”
