Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said that his focus is on seeing Nigeria work and not on the 2027 general election.
The former Anambra state governor said this in a statement by the spokesperson for the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council, Yunusa Tanko on Wednesday in Abuja.
He said: “Only God can tell who can run for election in the future, my interest now is the poor and how to see Nigeria work.”
Obi said the crisis rocking the party would be resolved amicably as they are not fundamental and cannot be handled
“What is happening in the Labour Party is child’s play compared to what is going on in APC and PDP,” he added.
He urged rich Nigerians to do more for the poor in the society in the area of provision of water and education.
Obi said 70 per cent of the wealth of Nigeria was in the hands of about one percent of Nigerians and noted that if one cent of the population of about 200,000 rich Nigerians can deploy their resources for the basic needs of the poor in our midst, the situation will not be as deplorable.
He charged governments at all levels to ensure that resource deployment was aimed at improving the living standards of the poor and pulling them out of poverty.
Obi, who announced the completion of the construction of ten boreholes in some states of the North for a short-term water supply for the poor said, if 200,000 rich Nigerians join him to do the same in the area of their choice, it would go a long way to solve the water needs of the poor.
Speaking on education, Obi said that the potential he found out mingling with Almajiris in the Quranic schools in the north moved him to tears how brilliant the children are but needed adequate support to develop them well to grow to be catalysts of development.
He said: “I am carrying out a campaign to make the rich in our midst do more in providing water to our rural poor and helping to pull the out-of-school children off the streets for proper development.
“This is the time to cut waste, our larger population can’t be suffering conspicuous lack of basic needs like water and we live lavish lifestyles in their midst, our crisis of insecurity and other challenges derives from poverty and it’s our responsibility to pull people out of poverty through good education.”
On what he would do differently as President following his criticism of the coastal road, the LP flag bearer said that under his watch as President, there would be no road until all the existing roadwork in the country are put in order.
He said: “I cannot embark on a new road when we can’t connect our states and cities in all the geopolitical zones because of bad roads. I will first fix the roads and move the economy.”
Responding to a question that he did not build any new school when he was Governor of Anambra state, Obi said those who said that failed to avail themselves of his manifesto.
He said that when he came to Anambra state, education was in shambles, schools were closed and the state was number 26 in the country but by the time he left, Anambra was number one in the state.
“I improved the quality, physical and mental well-being of the people, schools, had the basic things they needed and the people shone like stars and that was my manifesto. Building new schools when the old ones are moribund is just like building coastal lines when internal roads are impassable.” he added
