Labour Party’s Presidential candidate for Nigeria’s upcoming 2023 election, Peter Obi has stated that the problems facing the country could turn voters against the All Progressives Congress and the People’s Democratic Party to his favour.
The 61-year-old former Governor of Anambra State and a former 2019 running mate of current PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, disclosed this in an interview with Reuters.
Obi, in the interview said he is looking to harness Nigerians’ anger with the status quo to power his presidential bid.
“The system they’ve operated over the years, it has brought us to where we are,” Obi said.
Young people accounted for half of voters in 2019, and 84% of the 10.49 million recently registered voters were aged 34 and below.
Obi said that voters in a nation “on the brink” would eschew religious, ethnic and tribal loyalties that typically help the major parties dominate elections.
“What is important is that people trust,” he said, adding, “It is simple. You may not like me. But what I’m coming here to do will be different.”
Obi says he is happy to stand on his record as governor of Anambra State adding that his tenure as governor showed that he was not afraid of angering powerful interests to help the nation, and was more important to voters than his Christian faith or identity as an Igbo.
“We will break all of it to make it work,” he said.
Obi said he is finalising specifics of his platform such as how he would handle the tightly controlled naira currency or deal crippling fuel subsidies.
“The young ones want to see a country with a future,” he said.
“My job is to take the country and give it to them,” he stated.