Peter Obi delivering a speech at Chatham House
Peter Obi delivering a speech at Chatham House
Insecurity and Ethnic tension
Fielding a similar question on how he plans to tackle the security challenge and ethnic tension in Nigeria, Mr Obi said the ethnic tensions in Nigeria today are a result of injustice, unfairness, exclusion, and marginalisation.
“As long as we start doing the right thing, as long as we start building an inclusive society; where people’s talent and hard work match their opportunities, you start seeing those things go down,” Mr Obi said.
He said Nigeria has an existential threat which leaves no room for the usual transactional leadership. “It is either you are a Nigerian or you look for another country.”
Mr Obi noted that security is the first commitment of his administration if elected. “Securing Nigeria is not impossible. I secured Anambra State as governor and it will not be different,” he said.
His government, he said, will apply the carrot and stick method. They will dialogue with those who are available for dialogue and will deal with those who are not interested.
“Nigeria must be secured. We will not shy away; we will deal with it,” Mr Obi said.
He added that it was time to resonate the spirit of the Nigerian military: the same spirit they used in securing Africa in the past during peace missions, he said.
Mr Obi is the second Nigerian presidential candidate in this electoral cycle to speak at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, following his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Bola Tinubu’s session there in December.
Two other candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), are also expected to speak there.
A total of 18 candidates are scheduled to take part in next month’s election but only four of them are believed to have a chance of victory. The four are Messrs Obi, Tinubu, Kwakwanso and Abubakar.
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), on Monday, delivered a speech at Chatham House in London.
The former Anambra governor spoke on ‘Nigeria’s 2023 Elections: A Vision for Policy Change and Institutional Reforms’.
Datti Baba-Ahmed, his running mate; Pat Utomi, professor of political economy, and Julius Abure, LP chairperson, were also in attendance.
Below are photos.
