Feb. 25 Polls: Get inovlved- Obi charges religious leaders

By Stanley Onyekwere

Barely three weeks to the February 25 General elections, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi has stressed the need for religious leaders and faith based organisations to get involved in the process, in order to rescue Nigeria from total collapse.
Obi gave this charge while addressing members of members of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International– Nigeria (FGBMFI), at the National Christian Centre, during its Nigeria National Council Meeting, at the weekend.
The Labour Party candidate had arrived the event at 8.21pm from Ebonyi State after a series of rallies and town hall meetings in the South East of Nigeria.
Speaking to an excited audience, Obi stated, that Nigeria displays the two critical symptoms of a failed state, namely; lack of control over her territory and economic collapse.
According to him: “It is good we pray, it is good that we are doing everything, but it is time not to be righteous with those who are stealing public money.”
“In the past 20 years of our democracy, all we have produced is insecurity, poverty, out-of-school children, misery and pains. Nobody is sure how much a loaf of bread would cost tomorrow.
“Bread we used to buy for N400 is now N1100.” He bemoaned the staggering number of 133milion Nigerians under the clutches of multidimensional poverty, higher than the combined figure of India and China, both of which have over 2.8billion people.”
He stated, that Nigeria is the only OPEC country that is not producing its quota at a time it needs all the money. He detailed that in July, our oil production was 1.082million barrels when our quota was 1.8 million barrels per day. We thus lost 717,000 barrels every day leading to a loss of about N22.227m per day.
Obi, who paid tribute to the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, recalled how, in June 17, 1964, he wrote the World Bank to borrow $82m to build the Kainji Dam to generate 760MW of electricity. 59 years today.
“We know where Kainji Dam is and it has contributed immensely to Nigeria’s economic development. On the contrary, currently, we cannot see most of the projects for which Nigeria had incurred huge debts”, he opined.
He therefore assured Nigerians that the Labour Party government when voted into power would secure and unite this country. It would also pull the people out of poverty and harness the numerous agricultural and industrial potentials of Nigeria to get the country working again as well as move the people from consumption to production.
The LP flag bearer maintained that he and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed are best suited to restore the country to its glory days, saying “We have resources that can be harnessed to make this country productive.”
He however, expressed concern for Nigerians, over the recurrent bout of sufferings as a result of queuing for fuel, to which queuing for the new naira notes is an added pain.
Earlier speaking to journalists, at the occasion FGBMFI President, Arc Ifeanyi Odedo, noted that the Nigerian national Council meeting is the highest policy making body of the organisation and serves the role of congress as it attended by all the national leadership, national Directors Field Representatives and the over 3500 chapter presidents from across the nation. He stated that members are patriotic citizens, who not only pray for Nigeria but also contribute their own quota to the development of the country in both the marketplace and public service.
He explained that the theme for the year is “I know thy works,” taken from Rev. 3:15; which urges all Nigeria to be conscious that God is watching them in whatever we are doing and should therefore uphold the fear of God in their lives.