By The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has said next year’s Presidential election does not depend on ethnicity or religion, subsequently, it is no one’s turn.
Speaking at the Labour Party Leadership Retreat in Abuja on Monday, Mr. Obi vowed to consent to a performance agreement with the Nigerian Labour Congress to make sure that ideas generated at the retreat are followed to the latter.
Evidently referring to the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Obi insisted that since there was no place where Christians or Muslims buy things cheaper, or Yoruba or Hausa’s have free light than others in the country, then the coming election is about character and competence and not anybody’s turn.
The Labour Party flagbearer said, “We will do this retreat now, after the election we will do another one, the election next year will not be based on ethnicity, we have had it before, it would not be on religion.
“There is no place that Christians buy things cheaper, there is no place that Muslims buy things cheaper. It will not be my turn, it is nobody’s turn. It must not be by connection. The election next year must be based on character and trust, it must be based on competence.”
The Presidential candidate likewise expressed that corruption is pervasive in Nigeria because leaders are involved, “If a leader is not stealing, and the family around him are not stealing we will reduce corruption by 70 per cent. I was Governor for eight years, there is nowhere money is missing.
“I am in this retreat to listen, let us put it in writing when we succeed, you must be around to say this is what we have agreed on. Even if we don’t achieve 100 per cent, we must have made sacrifices.”
In his welcome address, Barrister Julius Abure, National Chairman of the Labour Party said Nigeria now have a golden opportunity to redefine how political issues ought to be played, saying that the current challenges were due to failure of leadership.
“Our leaders does not have what it takes to drive development. This is what has been lacking, no one is safe, insecurity has taken over something needs to be done and urgently, and I am happy Nigerians are ready for the real change not like the APC change in 2015.”
He said he was glad that Nigerians are joining the Labour Party consistently and asked NLC, Trade Union Congress and all Labour affiliates to join hands, adding this is an opportunity that should not be allowed to waste.
Comrade Ayuba Wabba, President Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), on his part said Nigerians can’t keep on being a consumer nation, “we need to go back to production, which will tackle unemployment. Corruption is an organized crime against the Nigerian public.”
He said protest and strike alone can’t fix Nigeria and called on workers to be prepared to attempt to bring about good leadership in the country rather than strike and protest.
Wabba said leadership is about energy and intellectual capacity, he went further to say that those saying Labour Party don’t have structure will be astounded, adding that the party is prepared to enact its structures in the 774 local government areas of the country.
