Nigeria doesn’t need ‘It is my turn,’ ethnic president, Obi blasts Tinubu

By Stephen Gbadamosi

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has taken a swipe at his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, declaring that with the condition of Nigeria, the 2023 election should not be based on ethnic or personal greed for power, as shown in the catch-phrase ‘Emi L’okan (it is my turn).’

Tinubu had, days before his party’s presidential primary, told an audience at Abeokuta in Ogun State that he made the wish of current President Muhammadu Buhari to become president possible, while he also made some others governors in their states; and, therefore, it was his turn to become the president of Nigeria.

Obi, who said this while answering questions on a live interview programme on Arise Television on Wednesday, lamented the current situation of Nigeria where he said with the current debt profile of Nigeria, the country might not be able to service its debts, as revenue continued dwindling, DailyTimesNGR gathered.

“Nigeria is at the brink now. Soon, we will not be able to service our debts. The country is on the verge of total fall. We do not need a candidate who thinks it is his turn or those that believe ethnicity should hold sway in the parameters to vote them.

“I don’t want people to vote for me because I am from the South-South or South-East. I want them to vote based on competence. Nigeria has problem, because people are jobless and we need to lift the country out of poverty. It is economic problem and I have the capacity to lift the country out of its current quagmire. It is the turn of Nigerians, not one greedy politician,” he said.

The former Anambra State governor hinted that Nigeria had, in the last eight years, paid about $40 billion on fuel subsidy, while paying very less on education, health and power generation.

He claimed that poor funding of the three sectors had led to the collapse of the economy, a development he said had caused joblessness and poverty in the country, as the last eight years had witnessed spending of N10 trillion on education, power and the health sectors.

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“Nigeria has spent over $40 billion on subsidy payment. The total spent on education in eight years is N8 trillion; spending on health, power and health is under $10 billion. How would you not experience poverty with such?

“The amount spent on subsidy alone would have solved problems of power, education, health and the rest, if the reverse was adopted in the spending approach,” he said.

When asked if he would remove petroleum subsidy, if he becomes Nigeria’s president, Obi said he would do so, if he had the capacity to provide the needed benefits that were supposed to follow such action, adding that Nigerians were against subsidy removal because they did not trust their government to provide the benefits that were supposed to follow, “like it happened after deregulation of the petroleum industry and the privatization policy.”

“I will remove subsidy and give resources that will benefit the people from there. But if I cannot provide that, I will not remove it. I will continue to say subsidy is a scam and so is the cost of governance in the country,” Obi added.

He spoke in favour of restructuring, adding that he would want the paraphernalia of the state security to be handled by the governors.