Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, for 2023 general elections has said he didn’t offer N40 billion to the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, presidential candidate, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, to step down for him.
Peter Obi made the clarification during an interactive forum with the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, in Lagos on Monday
“I never knowingly or unknowingly, offered anybody money to become president. In all my talks with Kwankwaso, I never offered him any money.”
He further clarified that nobody was funding his campaigns, and he not paying anyone to support his presidential ambition
He said: “Nobody as at today will say he’s funding Peter Obi. I’m funding myself. I don’t pay people to work for me.”
The former Anambra governor restated his commitment to transform Nigeria from a consuming to a producing country, if elected.
He noted that the first thing he will do would be to ensure that the country feeds itself.
“We must get the country to work and all it requires is leadership and I can do it.”
On what the people should consider while making their voting choices, Obi said: “Nepotism is a higher corruption than bribery. Next election is not about tribe or religion. Tribalism and religion are the confusion the elites deploy to deceive the people.
He urged electorate to consider competence, ability to start doing work instead of giving excuses, and not tribe or whose turn it’s.
“Please, don’t vote for me because I’m an Igbo or because it’s my turn. I’m a Nigerian contesting election as a Nigerian. So, scrutinize all of us and verify what we have done in the past. Nigerians should vote for a character they can trust, competence and ability to start doing the right thing.
“The job of a leader is provide solutions and not excuses. If elected, I will not give excuses but results. Therefore, I want Nigerians to hold me responsible if anything is not going well under my leadership."