Obi as most preferred presidential aspirant 

By Casmir Igbokwe

The time to rescue Nigeria has come. Amid a potpourri of insecurity, comatose economy and corruption that have crippled the country, it will be a sin to sit on the fence this time. As the 2023 general election approaches, Nigerians have a duty to enthrone someone who will save the country from the looming catastrophe.

Without mincing words, that man is Mr. Peter Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State. This has nothing to do with any pecuniary interests. I admire him because he is one Nigerian who has shown practically that he has the pedigree, the capacity, the discipline and the knowledge to take Nigeria to the Promised Land.

I am not the only one saying this. A former Spokesman to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Dr. Doyin Okupe, aborted his presidential ambition because of Obi. He confessed recently that Obi was versed in business, management and economic development and had the pedigree, education, knowledge and business acumen to govern Nigeria effectively.

Last week, I read a report indicating that Obi and the current Nigeria’s Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, are the two most preferred presidential aspirants for the 2023 general elections. While Osinbajo is of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Obi is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The report is a result of a survey conducted by Nextier, a multi-competency advisory firm, and Data-Tier, a data analytics and digital communications firm.

According to the survey, out of the 15 candidates ranked, the most preferred candidates are Peter Obi (46 per cent), Yemi Osinbajo (28 per cent), Bola Tinubu (7.5 per cent) and Atiku Abubakar (3 per cent). Tinubu and Abubakar Malami were the least preferred candidates. The survey report further indicated that almost eight out of 10 respondents (76 per cent) claimed that, above all other considerations, they would prefer someone who can fix Nigeria irrespective of his or her tribe or religion.

I am not surprised by the outcome of this survey. Over the years, Peter Obi has shown Nigerians that he is capable. His track records in Anambra State as governor between 2006 and 2014 are enough testimonies.

During his reign, Anambra became the number one state in education, health care system, infrastructure development, transparent leadership and accountability. In practical terms, he handed over schools back to the missions and supported them financially and otherwise. It did not take long before his state starting emerging tops in external exams like the West African School Certificate exams.

Obi also paid backlog of salaries and gratuities. This may sound unimportant. But the story Obi once shared about an 80-year-old woman who confronted him in church over her arrears of pensions and gratuities indicated how serious the matter was in Anambra. Obi was new in office then. The elderly woman, he said, came to where he was communing with God inside the church and took away his bible, saying, God would not hear his prayers because the state was owing her and others pensions and gratuities spanning over 20 years. Obi, ever humble, asked for the old woman’s address, visited her and heard her full story. He went back and eight years after, he paid N33 billion in pensions and gratuities.

Good governance is not magic. Once you have the zeal to serve, the discipline to be prudent and assertive, and the humility to relate with every segment of your society, other things will follow. Obi was prudent and disciplined enough to cut the cost of governance and committed the state resources only to things that were essential. He not only cleared arrears of debt owed by the state, he did not borrow a dime and yet handed over extra N75 billion and some other assets to his successor.

This is unprecedented in the history of this country. To the best of my knowledge, no other governor has done this in Nigeria. What many ex-governors leave behind are mountains of debts for their successors. The most unlucky ones end up in the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) net and ultimately in prison.

It is incontestable that Obi towers above every other person jostling for the position of president in this dispensation. Apart from his academic qualifications, which I consider less important, he has continued to improve himself through attending relevant courses in different world-class institutions. He has been to Lagos, Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard business schools, among others, to hone his skills in business and management.

He has also been visiting some progressive countries to study how they got to where they are today. He was in Morocco most recently. During his trip to that North African country, Obi observed that the country was able to achieve great heights in security, the economy and education because they had leaders willing to make painful sacrifices for the benefit of the society.

He noted, “Their major exports include vehicles, from which they earned $10 million with 62 per cent of the vehicles’ components sourced locally. Ten years ago, Morocco only exported less than 10,000 vehicles, but have today grown their vehicles export capacity to nearly a million vehicles per year.” In 2021, the former governor of Anambra State added, Morocco (a country of 35 million people and without oil deposits like Nigeria), generated $40 billion worth of exports, twice of what Nigeria earns from exports, including oil. Narrating his experience when he visited Tanger Med Port in Morocco, Obi said driving from Rabat to the port, which is said to be thrice the entire port capacity of the ports in Nigeria, he did not meet any traffic jam or any policeman on the road despite Morocco having more police personnel than Nigeria.

Obi has shown from indications that he is quite prepared to take up the leadership of this country. He was in Abia last week for consultations with Abia PDP chieftains in Umuahia. At the meeting, he said he would initiate policies and programmes that would transform Nigeria from a consumption economy to a productive one. “We have to stop fighting over sharing formula and start producing,” he said.

In a meeting with the Forum of Past Ministers of Nigeria last Friday, Obi warned that if Nigeria was not urgently rescued from the dangerous path she appeared to be inexorably marching towards, “we may not be able to contain the inevitable implosion, which all patriotic Nigerians including all of you gathered here and my humble self, pray against every day.”

Obi is the man the PDP needs at this time. If he gets the ticket, chances of his winning the election are bright, all things being equal. He has presented himself for service. Nigerians should send him if they are serious about retrieving the country from the claws of the jackals.