Obi was speaking on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’, where he addressed questions surrounding the seeming deadlock between his party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party.
The PUNCH had reported earlier how the presidential candidate of the NNPP, Rabiu Kwakwanso, had stated that he would not bend backward to accept the vice-presidential ticket as both parties continued to seek common ground to berth protracted talks over a possible alliance.
It was also reported that a chieftain of the NNPP, Buba Galadima had buttressed earlier comments by the party’s flagbearer that the NNPP would not play second fiddle in the ticket on the grounds that the South-East did not have the political strength Kwakwanso would bring to the ticket.
Reacting to comments by the NNPP, Obi said 100 million Nigerians were in poverty today because of the mentality exhibited by his senior comrades.
He further described Nigeria as a patient in coma, which would imminently die without urgent intervention of an expert like himself
He said, “We choose to vote for incompetence based on a primitive consideration of ethnicity and religion. Tell me, today, you can’t travel from Abuja to Kaduna by air, by road, or by train. Is it because somebody from the South-East is in charge? You can’t travel from Abuja to Minna by road, is it because somebody from the South-East is in charge? Yesterday, we had an attack on the presidential convoy in Katsina, is it because a person from South-East is in charge? Show me where you can buy food cheaper.” You have not talked about electricity, or people are prospering in the North because northerners are in power? In the South-West because they are in power or in the South-East.”
Appealing to Nigerians to jettison politics of religion and ethnicity, obi said it was high time Nigerians chose their leaders on the basis of merit and competence.
He added, “What we have chosen to do in this country is that we consistently hire vehicle drivers to fly the Nigerian airplane, instead of qualified pilots. My commitment is, let us campaign and deal with issues on the problems with the country. There are a lots of problems besieging this country.
If you don’t know today, this country will soon default in their debt servicing. This is what should be preoccupying us now. Universities have shut down and we are talking about who we’ll vote for. Let’s deal with the issues. This election will not be based on ‘my turn’. It will not be based on ethnicity. It will not be based on religion. It will be based on a Nigerian agenda to save this Nigeria. Nigeria is in coma, and it needs a specialist, and that is what I’m offering to save its life or it will die. I’m appealing to people to vote to save Nigeria, and to save Nigeria is to hire the best.”
Yesterday, the Director-General of the Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, Dr Doyin Okupe, had announced that the planned alliance between the Labour Party and the New Nigerian People’s Party for the 2023 general election is “dead.”
