Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections.
Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, says Nigeria is not a democratic country.
Speaking on Tuesday during his appearance on Prime Time, a programme on Arise TV, Obi claimed that the standards for measuring democracy do not exist in Nigeria.
“I have said it, and I maintain that there is no democracy in Nigeria today,” Obi said.
“Nigeria today is not a democratic country. Let’s stop telling ourselves lies. If you look at all the tenets and yardsticks measuring democracy, it doesn’t exist here.
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“Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Today, the government we have is not of the people.
“It is not by the people because the people didn’t vote. It wasn’t their votes. I’m not just talking about the presidency; it’s across the line. Look at what happened in Edo. Can you call that democracy?
“It is not the vote of the people. And it is not for the people. I have just told you that I went to an IDP camp where we have thousands of people. No primary health care.
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“They were begging me to have one nurse, which I said I must make sure they have. They don’t even have a primary school, which again I have told them I will make sure it happens.”
Obi criticised the government for prioritising the wrong issues and neglecting social capital development.
“So, what are you doing for a country that just spent N21 billion to renovate the house for the vice-president who isn’t living there? And you cannot even have a primary school for kids who are going to be leaders of Nigeria tomorrow,” he said.
In March, Obi faulted President Bola Tinubu for declaring a state of emergency in Rivers and suspending Siminalayi Fubara, governor of the state.
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The former governor of Anambra said Nigeria’s democracy, which has been progressing since 1999, is now collapsing and being “knocked down” by Tinubu’s administration.
