Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election Mr. Peter Obi, said the President Bola Tinubu is channelling his energy into satisfying the interest of the elites, while the masses of the country are languishing in want.
Obi in a statement on X, wondered why the president preferred a leisure trip to St. Lucia in the Caribbean in the midst of the myriad problems facing Nigerians.
“I am struggling with my senses to understand what is happening to governance in this country.
“What I have seen and witnessed in the last two years has left me in shock about poor governance delivery,” Obi stated.
He noted that recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released per capita data showing Nigeria is occupying the 12th position as the poorest country in the World, “and we remain the country with the highest number of people living in poverty.”
According to him, Nigeria in the last two years, has lost more people to all sorts of criminality than a country that is officially at war.
“Without any twilight, Nigeria ranks among the most insecure places in the world. Nigerians are hungrier, and most people do not know where their next meal will come from,” he regretted.
Obi said he finds it hard to believe that Tinubu will choose to going on holiday to St. Lucia when he couldn’t visit Minna, Niger State where over 200 lives were lost and over 700 persons still missing in a flood natural disaster.
“I wonder which type of incident will happen before a president is attracted to show physical sympathy to the distressed citizens,” he stated.
The Labour Party candidate said although Tinubu visited Makurdi, the Benue State where over 200 lives were lost, but it “turned out to be a political jamboree than condolence as public holiday was declared and children made to line up to receive the President who couldn’t even reach the village, the scene of the brutal attack.”
Obi noted that Makurdi, the Benue State capital with 937.4 Km², is over 59 percent bigger St. Lucia, which is 617 km², while Minna, Niger State capital with 6789 square kilometres, is 10 times bigger than St Lucia.
“St Lucia, with a population of 180,000, is less than half of Makurdi’s 489 839, and Minna, with 532, 000 is almost three times the population of St Lucia,” he added.
The former Anambra State governor stated that the situation in Nigeria today does not call for leisure for anybody in a position of authority, more so the president, on whose desk the buck stops.
“This regime has repeatedly shown its insensitivity and lack of passion for the populace, going by the way it prioritises the rich and shows indifference to the poor,” he said.
He stated that Tinubu administration is indifference to the suffering of the Nigerian poor, and want it urgently reversed.
“One had expected the President to be asking God for extra hours in a day for the challenges, but what we see is a concentration of efforts in the 2027 election and on satisfying the wealthy while the mass poor continues to multiply in number,” Obi added.
He reminded leaders that the God given resources of the country belong to every Nigerian, not to a few.
“The time has come to put a stop to this drift before it consumes all, and focus on pulling people out of poverty.
“A new Nigeria is POssible,” he said.
