Ismail Adebayo in Birnin Kebbi
A presidential hopeful under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, Friday urged the party’s delegates in Kebbi State to think about the future of their children before deciding on who to vote for during the party’s presidential primaries expected to hold in May, this year. The former Anambra State governor, while addressing party delegates at the PDP secretariat in Birnin Kebbi, said: “I want you to take the picture of your children, look into their future and see whether it will do them any good for you to vote a candidate that cannot guarantee their future as president.
“If they give you money collect it, who knows it might be your stolen money. But when it comes to vote, think twice, vote only for the candidate with capacity to fix Nigeria and secure the future of your children.”
He said successive governments in the country have not done much about education and agriculture to boost the nation’s economy even when every state in the federation has the potentials to be producers and not consumers.
“The nation has not done much in education. Presently, there are 18.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria. Ten million out this figure are women and this is due to leadership failure over the years,” Obi said.
He lamented that because Nigeria is not governed well, many people are in poverty, adding that: “About 100 million people in the country are currently living in poverty.
“What we hear today on daily basis in Nigeria is bad news. No more good news. People cannot move around anymore, farmers cannot go to their farms.
“Unemployment rate has risen to 35 per cent but all government do is to borrow money for wasteful ventures.”
He said he was ready to fix the nation’s economy if elected president on the platform of the PDP and would give priority to the economic potentials of each of the state in the federation.
“I grew up as a trader. I have served as board chairman of two banks. I was Anambra State Governor for eight years.
“I left N75 billion in the covers of the state while leaving after eight years and we did not owe salaries. We offset pensions and gratuities amounting to over N32 billion in the state,” he said.
