“This country should not be handed over to a sick person” – Peter Obi advises

Obi argued that handing over the country to a sick person to govern would be a grave mistake to make.

The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi has said that the country’s affairs should be handed over to a healthy president come May 29, 2023.

Obi gave this advice on Thursday during an interactive session with the University of Nigeria’s Business School, which was a continuation of his nationwide campaigns ahead of the February 25 presidential elections.

According to him, the needs of the country are so high that only a healthy and sound-minded person should be entrusted with handling the affairs of the country.

“This country is sick and should not be handed over to a sick person. I am not saying that anyone is sick. We have been here for over two hours, we don’t want people who can’t stand for 30 minutes,” Peter Obi said.

He also added that character and trust should be the attributes electorates should look out for in a candidate before recruiting leaders who would handle the affairs of the nation.

“In the United States during elections, they go for debates,” he added.

“Somebody once asked Barack Obama questions that were personal and he answered. But here in Nigeria, somebody wants to contest elections, we don’t know his real age, we don’t know his name, we don’t know the schools he attended. Nobody knows his real identity and he is pushing to lead everybody.

“My name is Peter Obi. I can say I went to Christ The King College, went to University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Both the VC today, the DVC today, were my schoolmates. We came to university the same year and left the same year. The people I went to school with, I can see them here today, my seniors and my juniors. How come we now have people who do not have classmates? This is very important.

“Afe Babalola once told me he never had the opportunity of going to a formal school. There is nothing wrong with that. There are so many people who have done well in life and never went to formal school.”

Speaking on corruption, the former Anambra state governor said Nigerians should examine the past records of service of every candidate to know how they deployed resources available to them.

He said: “If you say you will fight corruption, let’s go to the road you have passed and see what is remaining there after you left,” stressing that “this year’s election must be based on competence as it requires physical and mental energy. It is not a retirement job.”