Peter Obi: I Must Become President of Nigeria, If Not Today, Tomorrow

‘Anyone who thinks I’m in transit is wasting his time… I am not in a hurry to become the president, but I know it must happen’

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

Labour Party’s candidate in the February 25 presidential election, Peter Obi declared yesterday that he must become Nigeria’s president, notwithstanding the declaration of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress as President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

After Tinubu was declared winner of the poll with 8,794,726 votes, Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed petitions at the Presidential Election Tribunal, challenging the declaration and asking to be declared winners.

Speaking during the unveiling of a book, ‘Peter Obi: many voices, one perspective’ in Awka, Anambra State, Obi expressed optimism about still becoming President and declared that he was not in a hurry to achieve the dream.

The LP Presidential candidate declared: “Anyone who thinks I am on a transit is wasting his time. Let me tell you, I must be the president of this country. I am sure of that. If it is not today, it must be tomorrow.

“Other people who want to be, should come and tell us what they want to do, and how to do it. This is my country, I don’t have dual citizenship. If anyone thinks I am going to run away from Nigeria, they are lying.
“I have three engagements in Anambra and Lagos today (yesterday). I will be speaking in Lagos tonight. We will not leave Nigeria. I am not in a hurry to become the president, but I know it must happen.”

The former Anambra State governor said he was more concerned about the process that brings leaders to office, and not who the leader is.
Obi added that he was not struggling to free Nigeria from bad leadership for the elites alone, but for every Nigerian.

He said, “For three years I was in court in Anambra to reclaim my mandate, just to challenge the process. Many people tried to discourage me, but I said even if the entire four-year tenure elapsed for us to prove a point and correct the process, I will be fulfilled.

“My argument is that, let’s do what is right. I always tell everyone that I will not give people money to do the wrong thing. I have been the chairman of a committee; TETFUND committee, and Prof. Yakubu Mahmud was my member. We know ourselves, but when he became INEC chairman, I have never met him. I told him, you are an umpire, just do what is right.

“If you have the chance to do the right thing, and you insist on perpetuating anarchy, then, it will consume everybody one day. I insist that we must do the right thing.

“I was at an event yesterday (Thursday) in Abuja, and it was for the World Food Organisation. I listened to a report that stated that Nigeria will face intense hunger in years to come. It is Nigeria that will face hunger, not Peter Obi.

“The report listed Borno, Adamawa and Yobe as the states that will be worse hit, but those three states put together are five times larger in land mass than Israel that exports food, but Nigeria cannot feed itself.”
Also speaking, the chairman of the occasion and traditional ruler of Onitsha, Obi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, in his speech expressed hope that Obi will reclaim his presidential mandate.

Achebe said, “I was still a new traditional ruler many years ago, when I was invited to a meeting where some monarchs were trying to settle a matter between the then Anambra governor Chris Ngige and Obi over the governorship tussle.

“I was a new traditional ruler, so I was just listening to the conversations. Obi did not attend the meeting, but his representative said Obi sent a message that he is more interested in knowing the truth, and ensuring that the process is credible next time, and that he was not willing to back down, even if it meant remaining in court even after the tenure.

“It took him three years, but he was later restored. His representative then said, Obi only wants the truth to be known, and even if it happened after the expiration of his tenure. Also, when he was impeached, he told everyone that he would return, and he returned.

“Later, there was an election, and Andy Uba replaced Obi. He called me again and said that these people want to spoil our country. I had also heard that the judgement was to be delivered the next day, and that it may be against Peter. He (Obi) called me and he said he was confident that he would return as governor. I am saying this because this is a man I know very well. Someone called him man of the moment, but I choose to say that he is a man of destiny.”

Earlier, one of the editors of the book, Prof Chinyere Okunna said the launching was geared towards raising funds for the financing of the matter before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).

“We believe in Obi. He is not a saint, but among all the people who contested to become president, none comes close to him in humility, education, love of the people, experience and knowledge.

“Litigation is a very capital-intensive project and we want to support him through this launching. It was very clear that Obi won the election, but we want to call on the judiciary to be upright in their judgement and do the right thing.”