Obi: We’ll Return Benue to Nigeria’s Food Basket
•Says nation bleeds because it’s run by mediocre
Emameh Gabriel and George Okoh
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, yesterday, promised voters in Benue State that his government, if elected president next year, would return peace and security to the state and restore its status as the food basket of the nation.
Obi, who was joined by his wife, and his running mate, Datti Ahmed-Baba, said the Nigerian economy collapsed, because “we have people in government who don’t know anything about government and they are just wasting people’s time.”
At the rally, a former House of Representatives member, Hon. Herman Hembe, accused the PDP government in Benue State of promoting the anti-grazing law, which he claimed was originally designed to tackle herders menace in the state, but turned out to be one that has caged the people of the state.
Addressing thousands of his supporters at the IBB Square in Makurdi, Obi said he had made a pact with the people of “Nigeria to hold him accountable to every promise he made during his campaigns.
“I want you to put it down today that this is what I said I am going to do if I become president. I will come back to you. I will come to Benue. You will come to Abuja, I will come to you myself and give you the support you need.
“I assure you, I will restore peace in Benue. IDPs will go back home. Farmers will go back to their farms and we will ensure that we support them to produce more food for the country. Agricultural activities in the states and across the country will return to normal. We will secure a united Nigeria. Benue is not civil servants town.
“We have the opportunity to make Lagos a financial hub, we have opportunity to take advantage from the oil from the South-south and the land in the north for food security but we failed because we have people who don’t know anything in government and they are just wasting people’s time.
“Nigeria will not continue like this. We will start building a new Nigeria, where there is love and peace. Federal Government of Nigerian under Obi-Datti will support all states to become productive. Our youths will be part of our government and we will make them productive. That’s why I said you will not come to Abuja, we will come to you.”
He also told his supporters to collect any money offered by the PDP and APC during their visits to the state, saying, “If they give you money collect it. It’s your money. Collect it but vote for our party.”
Meanwhile National Chairman of Labour Party, Julius Abure, who earlier addressed party supporters, advised them to begin a house to house campaign to win more supporters to the party.
He said not only had PDP and APC failed Nigerians, they had also become “expired products”.
Abure stressed, “We tested PDP, they failed us, we now said let us try APC, they have proven to be worse. They will come back in 2023 to lie to you again. They can’t fool Nigerians any longer. We have given them notice to leave Aso Rock.”
Hembe described the anti-grazing law in the state as anti-people, saying the policy, which was supposed to be a solution to the herders’ crisis in the state, turned out to be a nightmare for the citizens.
He stated, “There is an anti-grazing law that is to prevent herders from destroying people’s crops. But unfortunately, it is our people that are in cages. Our biggest problem in Benue is insecurity. We work to make sure that it does not continue.
“We have to end these killings. We will make sure that we vote them out. We vote out this government of deceit, government of criminality and killing. Vote Labour Party to kick out deceit,” he pleaded.
