From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi

Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has said his emergence with his running mate, Datti Yusuf, was the first time people born after Nigeria’s independence were coming out to be President and Vice president as Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, contestants from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), respectively were born during the colonial days.

He  urged that the electorate give him and his running mate the chance, saying they belong to the younger generation and had the energy to resuscitate the economy given the level of poverty, hunger and all manner of sufferings citizens were subjected to, especially in the last 10 years by current and past leaders.

In his analysis, Obi said Nigeria in 2012 had 65 million poverty-stricken people, but this figure had increased to 100 million under the current government. Obi stated this, yesterday,  in Nnewi, Anambra State, when he addressed traders during his campaign in the industrial community. He declared that LP was on a rescue mission in Nigeria.

“The average age of people contesting under LP is 54years; the average age of those contesting under the PDP platform is 71years, while those contesting under the APC for president is not known to me. Datti and I have chosen to create a new Nigeria where there will be security of lives and property. We are committed to taking people out of poverty, and moving the economy from consumption to production. All the closed factories in Nnewi will be reopened. We will return Nnewi to its lost glory. 

“In this election, don’t vote on tribal basis. I’m a proud Igboman, but I’m contesting as the most qualified candidate. I have been a trader, a civil servant, manager of corporate organizations, among other positions, a governor who never owed workers and pensioners in my state,”he said.

The former Anambra Governor recalled how during his tenure he built all the good roads in and around Nnewi, distributed buses to all schools in the state, gave SUVs to traditional rulers, but lamented how his successors had burdened the people with tax after he left.

“Today it is tax, tax, tax in Anambra, no breathing space,” he said.

Obi told the Nkwo Nnewi traders and others who trooped out in their numbers that the PDP and APC had failed Nigerians, making it expedient to give LP a chance to address problems of Nigeria.

“Under my watch, if your container is at the wharf for more than two weeks, it will be released to you free of charge, “ he said.

Former PDP governorship candidate in Anambra State, Valentine Ozigbo said that God had heard the cries of Nigerians with the emergence of Obi as presidential candidate.

“There are 2.7 million voters in Anambra and we are optimistic that LP will clear all the votes. We also appeal that all LP candidates for Senate and House of Representatives across the State will be voted into the National Assembly,” he said.

In the entourage was rights activist, Aisha Yusuf who said said it was the expectation of Nigerians that Obi and his vice would be sworn in on May 29, 2023 and that no Nigerian should be seen as a slave in the country.