By Jude Michael
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has declared his intention to contest the 2027 presidential election, promising to serve a single tenure of four years if elected.
Obi, who made the declaration last Sunday night while speaking during a live session on X Spaces, where he answered questions from supporters both in Nigeria and abroad, also promised to fix Nigeria in two years.
In a statement released on Monday by his spokesman, Ibrahim Umar of the Peter Obi Media Reach, Obi dismissed claims of a possible joint ticket with former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.
However, he admitted being open to coalition talks, only if they were focused on addressing Nigeria’s core problems.
‘If the coalition is not about stopping the killings in Benue, Zamfara, how to revive our economy, how to make our industries productive, how to put food on the tables of Nigerians, count me out. Nigeria is currently at war. We need to do something about it,’ Obi said.
He also promised to stabilize Nigeria within two years of his administration and urged Nigerians to join him in the mission to rescue the nation.
‘I will bring stability in Nigeria within two years in office. Leaders of Nigeria should sit down in Nigeria and fix Nigeria,’ he added.
Speaking on the crisis within the Labour Party, Obi revealed that efforts were ongoing to secure the Independent National Electoral Commission’s recognition for the Nenadi Usman-led faction in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
On power rotation, Obi insisted that he believed in the rotation of government between the North and South, recalling that he implemented it in Anambra as a governor.
Commenting on President Bola Tinubu’s reported trip to St. Lucia, Obi criticised the President’s domestic absence, describing St Lucia as about the size of the 10th largest city of Nigeria, Ilorin.
‘President Tinubu has never slept a night in any state of Nigeria outside Lagos since the assumption of office in 2023,’ Obi regretted, while saying he would adopt a non-violent approach in his campaign in 2027, which, he said, would be focused on transparency.
‘We will do things differently in 2027. We will follow a non-violent approach and insist that the right thing will be done before the result announcement in Abuja. Our votes in 2027 will count, and we will ensure they count,’ he maintained.
Obi stated three priorities for his first 100 days in office as security, education and poverty reduction.
‘My family will not be involved in corruption. Funds to be channelled into key critical sectors,’ he said, while vowing to promote a strong party opposition and end party-switching by elected officials.
‘There will be no defection of elected officials to other parties when I am in charge,’ he asserted, while criticizing the current administration for what he described as misaligned priorities.
‘Imagine in this country, people are dying in Benue, Borno, and other parts of the country, and our leaders are commissioning bus stops and holidaying,’ he said, calling for responsible governance and integrity.
‘To bring order in governance, I will prioritise security, education and pulling people out of poverty. To do this is by cutting the cost of governance and fighting corruption from day one.
‘My past speaks loudly for me. Wherever there was an issue in Anambra State, I was there physically. Anybody who wants to serve should be ready to put their life on the line for the lives of Nigerians.
‘Nobody abroad takes you seriously if you don’t have a stable government,’ he said.
