We’ll convince IPOB, Yoruba agitators, ISWAP to lay down their arms – Peter Obi

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi yesterday said his government will convince Yoruba nation agitators, Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), including other agitators to lay down their arms and work with him to build a country of their dreams.

Speaking in Awka, Anambra State capital during a Presidential campaign rally, Obi, who is also from the State, said “We will make sure that we negotiate, discuss, beg, and cajole people. We will beg everyone, but if they refuse to hear, we will tell them that we are in government. But there will be peace.”

Speaking further, Obi said Onitsha and Anambra, like some other States, are business and manufacturing cities, which will be brought back to life when he emerges as President of Nigeria in February 25th presidential election, adding that when he was Governor, he brought so much industries through his revolutionary industrial estates across the State.

“When I become president, I will do it in Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Kogi and all over the nation. We will return Borno as a fishing centre. Every part of Nigeria will turn to a productive centre. Nigeria will produce food and we will not be hungry again because we have farm land in the North.

“We will cultivate all the farmlands in the North. I will build factories in the East and the ports in Port Harcourt and Warri will be put to use again. Companies like Innoson will export cars and most young Nigerians who have fled the country will return because we will have so much”, he assured voters.

The LP standard bearer, who lamented that a dollar is 750 naira, said if he is voted into office, he will start reversing the exchange rate, adding that his administration will ensure that Nigeria exports enough to stabilize the naira.

“When I came into government, I started from where Ngige stopped because I believe that government is a continuity. I never complained of what my predecessor did. My government did not complain. The work of a leader is not to complain, it is to find a solution. We are telling you we are not going to complain. We are not going to remind you of your past, we are going to remind you of your future, and we are going to give you a great future.

Also speaking, his running mate, Yusuf Datti-Baba Ahmed, said Nigeria is ready for the South East, likewise the North, even as he cautioned those Igbo elders whom he said does not want power to come to the zone because of their selfish interest.

“In 2019, Peter Obi and his likes, all serious politicians from the South, even with their money, resources and experience, decided not to contest the presidential election because they reasoned it was the turn of the North. Now in 2023, no one should drag it with the South East”, he said.