Obi to Nigerians: Don’t listen to presidential candidates that speak through proxies

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has asked Nigerians not to listen to presidential candidates that speak through proxies.

Speaking to Nigerians in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Obi also asked Nigerians to carry out background checks on all presidential candidates to determine if they know what Nigerians need.

Obi, Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Rabiu Kwankwaso, flagbearer of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP); and Bola Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Progressives (APC), were all invited as panellists to speak at the recently concluded 2022 NBA Annual General Conference in Lagos.

Kashim Shettima, the APC vice-presidential candidate, represented Tinubu, but Kwankwaso was absent.

The Peter Obi Support Network Media Group quoted the LP candidate as saying that educational qualification is not the same as integrity and that Nigerians should hold each candidate accountable for their campaign promises.

“When you listen to us, go and check our background, this is not a time for somebody to show us his qualifications, I live in Nigeria, and I know Nigeria and what Nigerians need. I am not a stranger to Nigerian problems,” the group quoted Obi as saying.

“I am a trader, but I have the privilege to go to some of the best of schools like Oxford, Cambridge, and other Ivy League institutions, but I always say to people that educational qualification is not the same as integrity.

“Listen to all the presidential candidates, not through proxy. Let anyone who wants to be your president come forward himself and speak to you directly because he is the one you will hold responsible for whatever happens to Nigeria under his care.

“This campaign is not a campaign you are going to speak through somebody. That person needs to come and directly tell us what he is going to do for our country, and we must take note of whatever he says and hold him by his words.

“We also don’t want one that would be carried to this place in a wheelchair, but must consider his capacity, competence, integrity and commitment.”