If he is elected president of Nigeria in next month’s election, Peter Obi has vowed to eradicate pervasive corruption and insecurity from the continent’s most populous country.
During a lecture on Monday at the Chatham House international affairs think tank in London, Obi, one of 18 candidates vying for Nigeria’s highest post, referred to his nation as “a failed state” in need of fresh political leadership.
“Unless we change the politics by changing the political leadership, we are stuck in this terrible state of underdevelopment and misery,” said Obi, a former governor of the southeastern state of Anambra who is the candidate for Nigeria’s Labour Party.
Despite their opponents’ greater name recognition, Bola Tinubu of the ruling party and Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition, Obi is currently leading the crowded field in polls. Abubakar was a former vice president, and Tinubu served as the governor of Lagos State. In 2019, Obi served as the People’s Democratic Party’s running mate for Abubakar.
A make-or-break election will be held on February 25 to replace President Muhammadu Buhari after eight years in office. Other leading candidates have made commitments akin to Obi’s since campaigning got underway late last year. Atiku has promised to “save Nigeria,” while Tinubu has claimed he wants to “renew hope.”
Security issues, such as warfare led by armed groups associated with ISIS/ISIL in the north-east, armed bandits in the north-west, and secessionists in the south-east, observers say, pose a threat to the election.
Obi promised to hold talks with secessionists on Monday and to enact a number of security measures, particularly in the unrest-ridden north where armed gangs have killed thousands of people in the previous year. These adjustments might influence the enormous diaspora communities in Nigeria to think about coming back and contributing to progress, he said.
“What you have seen is a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years, which would be solved by good governance,” he said. “When people start seeing justice, fairness and inclusive government, all those things will start reversing. Nigerians are prepared to come back if they can find that they have a country to go back to.”
