By Jane Okafor, Abuja
Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has declared that he and his supporters will ensure that their votes are properly counted during 2027 election.
Obi warned that if anybody or group said votes won’t be counted, they would be the ones to be counted – a veiled threat to violence.
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) said the party would source for credible people to carry out this assignment, hammering it further that “those who will think that they will not count it, we will count them.”
He also said that if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu – led administration had implemented the twin policies of subsidy removal and flotation of the naira properly by arresting illicit naira in circulation chasing the dollar, petrol prices would have been between N500 – N600 per litre and naira at N1,000/$.
Obi said he would have achieved this by “removing illicit money from circulation and dismantling the criminality associated with petrol subsidy.”
He made the remarks during the presentation of the book titled, “Obi, the Political Change Agent” authored by former Group Political Editor of ThisDay and pioneer Deputy Managing Director of New Telegraph, Mr Ike Agbonyi in Abuja on Tuesday.
The book was reviewed by a former diplomat Oseloka Obaze.
Obi said: “Let us continue to sacrifice. There is no short cut to it. If we use short cut we will not get there. We are going to look for people all over; those who will be in the houses of assembly, House of Representatives. That is what we didn’t do the last time. We want genuine people who want to be in the house. If you want to make money from politics know that you are part of this problem.
“This time around, we will make sure that we are everywhere. We will vote, the votes will count and those who will think that they will not count it, we will count them. We will make it work.
“I would have done it in an organised manner. If you remove the illicit and criminal money around you will be able to get the value (of the naira) in the right space. But because everybody is stealing, pursuing the same dollar, nobody knows the rate. If I have stolen N1 million and I go to buy dollars will I think about the rate? No because for me it is still part of the stolen money that I have but we have huge illicit money pursuing the dollar so the rate is irrelevant. That is what we want to dismantle so that it can work.
“I said I will remove fuel subsidy by first removing the criminality in it. If we removed the criminality, today, fuel would have been between N500 and N600 and dollar rate had no reason to be above N1,000.
“When you start production, it will start coming down. It has happened in Angola and it is happening in Ghana. In December, Ghana’s money was 14 Cedi to the dollar. Today it is 10 Cedi to the dollar because they are now beginning to see a transparent government but when you have illicit money chasing the dollar it will not work. That is what we want to dismantle.”
Obi lamented that Nigerians have been turned into refugees (Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs) in their own country.
He said that Nigerians must rise and change the current political system, adding that the current structure does not care about the people.
The former Anambra State governor listed what he said are the elements of sufferings by Nigerians as insecurity, poverty, theft, lack of accountability by public officials, among others.
Obi said: “Today in Nigeria, we are not at war but Nigerians are in refugee camps in their own country. Nigerians are refugees in Chad, in Cameroon and we are not at war. The only reason is that we don’t have government that cares for the people. People are being killed every day and nobody goes to them to say we are sorry. Nobody visits them; nobody cares.
“Nigerians are dying everyday. All we are doing is to use resources to renovate houses and build mansions. That’s what we are doing. If they make you Local Government Chairman, Governor, Vice President or President, all they want to do is to renovate a house that doesn’t need renovation so that it will be more comfortable for them at the expense of other people. It is to go and build a conference centre in a place women are dying.
“People are dying every seven minutes yet we have sophisticated buildings and mansions. That is what we want to dismantle so that it will be easy for everybody.
“I am assuring you people that if we work together we will dismantle them. Go back to your village and tell them that what we have today, we must gang up to remove it. Because it is not sustainable. People will come as usual, telling you stories; please ask about their background; ask who they are so that we will know how we can fix this country and make it work.”
