Obi: I Never Said I’m Looking Forward to Contest in 2027

* Says N8,000 palliative not enough to cushion effect of subsidy removal

Emameh Gabriel in Abuja

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, has dismissed media reports that he said he is looking forward to running for office in the 2027 presidential elections.

This is as he criticised the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration for the approval of N8,000 as palliative to about 12 million households over the period of six months to ameliorate the hardships faced by Nigerians as a result of subsidy removal.
Obi also denied commenting on appointees of the federal government.

The former governor of Anambra State made this known in a statement on his official Twitter handle in Lagos yesterday.
The presidential candidate described both reports as bogus, regretting that Nigerian politics had sunken to the level where manipulation of the media space was now a trade.

He said: “I have noticed with dismay, an emerging pattern, where fake media reports and news items are predicated on interviews and press remarks I never granted.
“Two recent instances relating to my saying that I am looking forward to running for office in 2027 on a supposed ARISE TV interview.
“This never took place and the other, about my reaction to prospective appointees into the current federal government,” he said.
The presidential candidate said he would not allow fake news to distract his focus for a new Nigeria which he insisted, was possible.
Obi said his focus and that of the ‘Obidient’ Movement that he leads, would not derail from the original mission of creating a new Nigeria which they believed was possible.

He said for him, he would continue to speak on topical national issues via recognised news and media outfits but certainly would not concern himself with cheap distraction.
Obi also said the focus of his followers had never been on political appointments and positions.
“Our emphasis has never been on political positions or personal aggrandisement but on putting the nation on the right footing and deepening our democracy by helping to elevate and empower the downtrodden in our society.”

Obi so aid that was the reason their messages during the electioneering campaigns were all issue-driven.
Meanwhile, Obi has criticised the Tinubu-led administration for the approval of N8,000 as palliative to about 12 million households over the period of six months to ameliorate the hardships faced by Nigerians as a result of subsidy removal.

Speaking at the graduation of the Class of 2023, Pacesetters Schools, Abuja, he said almost every family in Nigeria are vulnerable and are feeling the pains of the fuel subsidy removal, including teachers who are poorly paid and a lot of them being owed for months in some states.
He stressed that N8,000 to 12 million households was not enough to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal, insisting that almost every parent need the money across the because of the level of poverty in the nation.

He said: “I was telling my people to find a way how to enrol for this N8,000 because almost everyone needs it; both parents and teachers need the 8,000.”
While speaking on the importance of education in any nation, the LP presidential candidate described as alarming the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report that more than 20 million school-age children in Nigeria are out of school, saying there was no way there could be meaningful development when such huge number of children have no access to education.

“If you follow the 2022 World population of counties we are talking about the population of Norway, Ireland, Singapore and Dubai put together that is out of school in Nigeria. When you put together the population of these four successful countries together, it will be over 19 million and we have 20 million out of school. So, we have the population of the four thriving, successful, developed countries put together that out of school in Nigeria, so how can you talk about development in the future? So, investment in education is critical,” he said.
Obi noted that various studies have indicated the human development index, health, education and per capita income, education is about all three because health is about education.

According to him, a nation could not have a healthy society without educated people and there was no way to take people out of poverty without education.
The former Governor of Anambra State said poverty is largely responsible for the challenge of insecurity being witnessed in the country today, saying the more people are put out of poverty, the more criminality is reduced “and you can’t do that unless you invest in education.”
Obi observed that the more people are educated, the more they are able to put themselves out of poverty, stressing that there was the need for the government to invest in private schools as in the public, arguing that the children in private schools are Nigerian children.

He noted that the most critical component of education is the teacher, saying they are the ones that teach and mould the character of children.

On national honour awards, Obi said it was unfortunate that instead of recognising diligent and hard-working teachers across the country, the Nigerian government confers national honour awards on those who stole from the country and are not even supposed to be part of the country.