By Hadiza Mohammed, Northern Operation
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has declared that Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde is qualified to become Nigeria’s president, while calling on Nigerians to unite behind whoever emerges victorious in a free, fair and credible election.
Obi spoke on Monday in Abuja at the inauguration of Makinde’s presidential campaign, where he expressed solidarity with the governor and advocated a departure from Nigeria’s traditional politics of division and confrontation.
Responding to the question of whether Makinde was qualified to occupy the nation’s highest political office, Obi gave an emphatic answer.
“We have a candidate who is contesting for president today, my dear brother Makinde. Number one is, is he qualified to be president? Yes, he is qualified,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor stressed that his attendance at the campaign launch was not an attempt to dictate Nigeria’s next leader to the electorate, but to support a political process in which citizens are free to make their choice.
“What we are doing today is to show you, for us, it’s not about the inspiration. We want the people of Nigeria to make their choice,” Obi said.
He lamented the worsening economic and social conditions facing Nigerians, citing hunger, poverty and inadequate healthcare as major challenges requiring urgent political action.
“We want to come together to build a new Nigeria. We can’t continue the way we are going today. Our people are hungry. Our people are poor. Our people are ill,” he said.
Obi also urged politicians and their supporters to place national interest above partisan differences, insisting that Nigerians should rally behind whoever wins a genuinely free, fair and credible election.
“Whoever wins, genuinely, from a free, fair, credible election, all of us want to work together to save this country from collapse,” he said.
Explaining his decision to attend Makinde’s campaign inauguration, Obi said his presence was intended to demonstrate solidarity and underscore what he described as a new direction in Nigerian politics.
“That is why I’m here, to show solidarity, to assure you that we are changing the game. We don’t want policies of war, policies of disagreement,” he said.
According to Obi, political leadership should ultimately be measured by its ability to improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians, particularly by tackling hunger and lifting citizens out of poverty.
“Let our goal be to feed our people. Let our goal be to pull our people out of poverty,” he said.
He further advocated a Nigeria where citizens can rise through merit and hard work, rather than through political connections, privilege or family background.
“We want a Nigeria where a child of nobody can be somebody without knowing anybody. That’s what we want,” Obi said.
