From Obinna Odogwu, Awka

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in this year’s elections, Mr Peter Obi, has said that he would be president of Nigeria if God has endorsed him to be.

Obi, who spoke on Friday during a public presentation of a compendium on him entitled: Peter Obi: “Many Voices, One Perspective” at Finotel Hotel, Awka, Anambra State, said that he was not desperate to be president of the country.

He said that he was confident that the judiciary would do the right thing in his ongoing suit challenging the outcome of the polls especially the process adopted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) contrary to its own guidelines for the elections.

He said: “I’ll always insist on what is right. When I was impeached as governor, people asked me to do this and that, I said no. I won’t give money to do the wrong thing.

“Again, I had never met with Mammood Yakubu, since he became the head of INEC. Although I was together with him as the chairman in a committee, but I don’t need to meet him because he has only one vote which he can cast to anyone.

“If he wants to do what is wrong, no problem. One day, this thing we are doing in this country will consume all of us.”

Obi made it clear that he was committed to a better Nigeria and that he would continue to work for the progress and development of the country.

“I’m in this journey. Anyone that thinks I’m on transit is joking. I will be president of this country. If it’s not today, it will be tomorrow. I’m not in a hurry. I’m not desperate.  “We must fix this country. I have only one passport. If anyone thinks that Peter Obi will run away, he is wasting his time.

“I’m in court now. Whatever decision of the court, I’ll respect it. I’m not going to riot after which we’ll continue. But I know we’re committed to the destiny of this nation, when it’s God’s time it’ll happen.

The Anambra former governor appreciated his followers, the OBIdients for their  understanding and perseverance, telling them, however, that his softness and apologetic disposition remained the way to go and sign of discipline and responsibility.

“We’re trying to build a new Nigeria and that new Nigeria must be ready to say sorry, even if they are right. We need to start thinking about what are we going to do to have a better country”, he stated.

Obi said that the many challenges facing the country could be surmounted with right and purposive leadership.

The presidential candidate, who reiterated his belief that what Nigeria needed was “conscious, planned and aggressive transition from consumption to production”, said that he was touched when, a few days ago, he watched the news with pictures of how United Arab Emirates planned to harvest their first set of wheat grown in a purely desert setting through the aid of modern technology.

Obi who described as “disheartening”, the recent report from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), to the effect that Nigeria, especially Borno, Yobe and Adamawa would be seriously affected by hunger this year said that such news were discomforting to him against the possibilities of Nigeria which its leaders have failed to utilize.

Employing statistics, Obi said that the combined square kilometre of land mass of the three states mentioned, namely: Borno (70.9 sq km), Yobe (45.5 sq km) and Adamawa (36.5 sq km) which amounts to 152.9sq was far greater than that of Isreal which is just 22.1 sq km and yet Isreal reportedly feeds itself and exports excess to the world.

He said that with the right leadership, which was his commitment, Nigeria would do as well.

In his remarks, the Royal Father of the day, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, described Obi as a “Man of the Destiny”, saying that one of the things that distinguished him from other politicians was his efforts to stay on the truth and do the right things, as well as his insistence that the right things must always be done no matter the time it takes.

He commended Obi for consistently following the path of truth, integrity and transparency.

Earlier in his opening remark, the lead Editor of the book, Prof. Chinyere Okunna, thanked Nigerians for their faith in Obi. She said that the public presentations of the book was another way of supporting Obi’s political journey towards the presidency.

The traditional ruler of Agulu, Obi’s town, Igwe Innocent Obodoakor, described Obi as a worthy son of Agulu whose pedigree speaks for itself.