The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi has explained why Nigerians should vote for him, declaring himself the most qualified person to rule Nigeria. Obi also said he has what it takes to redeem the country in 2023.
He made the declaration at the first and second convocation ceremonies of the Dominican University, Ibadan, while expressing optimism of his chances of securing maximum votes in the southwest zone of the country in the 2023 election.
Obi, who is the Pro-Chancellor of the university, stated that he has proved he could do the job, adding that: “And my promise is a promise that I will deliver, is for us to look at our promises and how we will be able to deliver in parts.”
“The job requires a lot of physical and mental energy; it’s for you to assess who is most likely to do the job, for me it is to secure and unite Nigeria, ensure that we move it from consumption to production that is the only way we can pull people out of poverty by creating jobs and creating opportunities and things we begin to turn around if we are able to do that.”
According to him: “I will invest in health and I will invest in education; we will start from basic education to ensure that people are educated at the basic level, at tertiary level we will find a combination that will enable us to work where our students will no longer go on strike. It’s not acceptable, we will pull people out of poverty, we would work hard to remove Nigeria from consumer to producer, we would support the private sector, which in turn they will provide more jobs for our youths.”
While speaking on his chances of securing votes in the southwest, especially Oyo State, Mr. Obi noted that:
“Ibadan requires a lot of federal presence. Oyo is big, Ibadan in particular is a huge city, Ibadan is as big as Lagos.”
Ibadan alone can compare to Lagos in terms of population. It is about four million people living in one city. It requires a special attention. It is huge, the infrastructures are there, there are so many youths unemployed and I commend the Governor who I considered is doing a good work, but it needs federal government intervention to support the development.
“It’s a place we can think of if we want to invest in education, there are so many schools and when it comes to medicine is also a center of excellence, people used to visit College of Medicine, Ibadan but today the reverse is the case because people no longer come there. So there is a lot to do here, whenever I’m in Ibadan I feel at home, when I got to the palace today, I was received with a very good and warm reception.”
Speaking on his structure, he said: “The structure is human being, the number one structure is God, the number two is human being and you people are my structure because you believe in me and in what I’m saying.y
“Whatever I say or I promise, I can do it, you can go and verify based on my past performances where I have passed through before, so what structure again do you want me to do?”
“The structure we have today is structure of criminality, structure of underdevelopment, the structure that has ruined the country, so the question is that do you want to continue with the existing structure or you want a new structure?”
“If they said I give unverified statistic let them come with their alternatives, if you say I’m wrong let them provide their own, they cannot say I’m wrong if they failed to give their own, for every statement or statistics I made, if you look at ten I will get nine, quote me anywhere, and have always maintained over 75 percent. I known what I’m talking, I’ve been there and I know what it takes; they have not shown anything,” Obi posited.
Earlier in his convocation lecture, the guest lecturer, Mr. Peter Amangbo, who congratulated the 96 graduands for their achievements, noted: “I will like to congratulate our distinguished ninety-six scholars who we celebrate today, I’m super proud of your achievements, you graduated at a time of unprecedented global catastrophe, it is however not all bad news as you all survived the pandemic and are now part of history.”
“It is a great privilege to be pioneer students of this young but vibrant institution founded by order of Preachers, this University is positioned to provide high quality education to raise a new generation of leaders at the service of Nigeria and the global community who will use multiple competence acquired in the university to work for their own good by serving the common good.”
Speaking on the theme of the lecture, titled: “Let Your Education Count,” Amangbo queried that under the current socio-economic circumstances in Nigeria today what should the youths do?
“What options are open to them? Should they resort to criminality and violence as is prevalent in so many parts of the country today, I think criminality and violence is not the answer, you cannot bury your heads deep into circumstances and hardship of today such that your eyes are blurred to opportunities that exist for tomorrow.”
It is strongly believed that the answer is for our youths to make optimum use of their education and that is why I have titled this address “Let Your Education Count,” he said.