*Say he had condemned infractions committed by IPOB or other agitators
*Insists the company he invested Anambra State funds are today the highest tax payer in the state
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, in analysing the state of insecurity in the country, has stated that he has the capacity to dne Nigeria’s insecurity through effective action and dialogue with aggrieved parties.
While condemning all acts of violence or illegality committed by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) or any other agitator, he explained that such issues must be addressed through dialogue, not by the deployment of force.
Answering questions during an interview on ARISE News “Morning Show” programme on Monday, Obi stated that he criticises “every single act that is wrong, whether it’s in the East, West, South or North”, pointing out that agitation, whether regional or ideological, is a natural part of any society, and the solution must be found through constructive engagement.
He also denied allegations of sleaze or not saving money for Anambra State when he left office as state governor, describing suck allegations as “cheap propaganda” and stressing that the money he saved in three banks were properly receipted and recorded, and that he still kept photocopies of such receipts and ready to share with anyone who would like to see it verify its authenticity.
“The money I saved in the three banks (First Bank, Diamond Bank and Fidelity Bank), were properly documented and receipted.
He also said that yhe companies he invested Anambra State money in, while he was governor are today, the biggest tax payers in the state.
“I still have the photocopies of the receipts up till today and I will give them to you to verify,” he told Arise News Anchorperson, Useni Rufai.
When confronted with allegations of people referring to him as weak on the activities of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Obi stated that his position on agitators has always been to pursue national unity through peaceful means, and that criminalising dissent or treating agitations as war mongers only deepen divisions.
“I’m hard on everybody. I remember what I said during the campaigns. Any agitator, I will discuss with. There’s nothing wrong in agitation, whether it’s urban movement, whether it’s modern movement, any movement, I’ll sit down and discuss with them. It is important because you dialogue with people. Even in my house, people agitate and I dialogue with them.
“Why don’t you dialogue with them? I have children who say, oh, I don’t want to do this, daddy. And I say, okay, give me your time. Let’s talk. Why don’t we sit and talk with people?
“Let’s sit down and talk. And then we have exhausted the reason. And if we don’t, and that’s it. So it’s a question of, like I told you, we’ve been radical in our approach, and we thought that bad behaviour and radicality makes you powerful. No. You actually kill the system.
“Good behaviour has become weakness. Good character has become weakness, unfortunately , in this country.
“If I go into a place where people are shouting and I’m beating people, then, I’m a strong person.”
He also condemned the President’s actions on the recent political unrest in Rivers State, stressing that the situation in the country today makes Nigeria not habe shown any serious sign of being a democratic country.
“The nail was driven into the coffin by the declaration of the state of emergency in the state”, he stressed.
He added: “You cannot, under any circumstances, solve a problem in a democratic setting by going against the rules and the constotution.
“You can’t even solve any problem by going against the rules. There’s a process,” he said.
He insisted that political conflict, no matter how severe, must be resolved within democratic and legal frameworks, not through authoritarian measures.
he also accused Tinubu’s government of instigating crisis in opposition political parties.
He pointedly accused the federal government of being responsible for the lingering crisis in the Labour and other opposition political parties, adding that the aim is to instigate problems everywhere, including within families.
Obi eaually accused the government of going after anyone that speaks the truth, and that the government hrives on propaganda and lies.
He said: “This is what you get always in Nigeria, because we now live in a country of propaganda and lies – “and they manufacture it.”
According to him, “the problem we have in Labor Party is problem instigated and sustained by the government of today.
“I don’t need to tell you when you have a party chairman who calls a state governor a dwarf and dwarf thinking. Forget about me, so he’s not weak.
“Okay, I’m weak, but he’s not weak. Is every other person there weak? So we’re not sincere with ourselves.
“You speak the truth and they call you names. And we now live in a country of propaganda and lies. They are trying to put problems everywhere, they want to even put problems in families.”
