By Magnus Aluma, Abakaliki
The 2027 Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has warned the people of the Southeast zone not to allow ethnic and sectional interests to influence their choice of candidates in the 2027 general elections.
Obi gave the warning in a Town Hall meeting held on Thursday in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, saying the unity of Nigeria supersedes the interest of any section of the country. He urged the people of the zone to vote for the candidate of their choice in the coming election, irrespective of where the candidate is coming from.
He said: “Let nobody divide the South-East. I don’t want the people of Ebonyi to vote for me because I am from South-East. I don’t want you to vote for me because I am an Igbo person.
“My dear people, I want you to vote for me because I am qualified to be the President of this country. I want you to vote for me because I am the leading candidate.
“I want President Tinubu to come to Abakaliki to tell Ebonyi people what he has done in the past three years. Let him come and tell you what he used the money he has been borrowing to do for the past three years. I want him to come to Abakaliki to tell Nigerians what he has used their money to do. He said he will not come for campaign.”
The NDC Presidential Candidate alleged that President Tinubu has stayed out of Nigeria for over 260 days, but cannot spend up to 36 days to go round Nigeria to tell the people his achievements in the past three years.
Obi further said: “the President does not have the competence to run Nigeria. He does not have the energy to run the country. He should go home and rest.
“We will declare emergency on about seven items. Number one is that we must unite Nigeria. We don’t want people to be around Nigeria saying, I am Igbo, I am Yoruba, I am Hausa, I am this, I am that.
“We must unite this country, operate Federal Character for all the jobs we have, and also deal decisively with insecurity.
“Let me assure you today, if I am President of this country, our kids will not go to school and somebody takes them into the bush. We are going to equip the security agencies to ensure that our country is safe.
“We will declare an emergency in corruption. I will fight corruption like nobody has fought it before. Public money must be used for public good. Starting from the President, nobody will steal our money again. If you do it, you will go to jail.
“We will declare an emergency on hunger. Our farmers must go back to farm, they will be encouraged to be able to cultivate. They will be able to give us what we eat and also export. We will also declare emergency in education. We have over 18 million children out of school, and we must reduce the number.”
Obi further said if he is elected, his government will establish functional healthcare facilities in all the political wards of Nigeria, adding that the country has the resources to achieve that.
Our correspondent reports that a former Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, a one-time member of the House of Representatives, Chief Linus Okorie, and a former Secretary to Ebonyi State Government, Professor Benard Odoh, assured victory of the NDC Presidential Candidate in Ebonyi State.
