No Tribe Buys Bread Cheaper, Poverty And Insecurity Affect All Nigerians, Says Peter Obi

 

No Tribe Buys Bread Cheaper, Poverty And Insecurity Affect All Nigerians, Says Peter Obi

Obi said Nigerians must reject divisions along ethnic and religious lines and elect a president capable of uniting the country and tackling insecurity.

Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Peter Obi, has said Nigeria’s ethnic and religious divisions have done nothing to shield citizens from the country’s worsening poverty, insecurity and economic hardship.

Obi said Nigerians must reject divisions along ethnic and religious lines and elect a president capable of uniting the country and tackling insecurity.

He spoke during a Vote4Obi Zoom meeting monitored by SaharaReporters on Sunday evening.

The former Anambra State governor said the hardship being experienced across the country does not discriminate based on tribe or religion.

“Today we are not united. We are divided among ethnic and religious lines. And to the best of my knowledge, no tribe buys bread cheaper,” Obi said.

“No tribe buys food cheaper. No religion buys bread cheaper. No religion buys food cheaper.

“The poverty that is in our country today spreads across the whole nation. No tribe is more secure than the other. Insecurity is all over the country.”

Obi said the common challenges facing Nigerians should make citizens focus on electing leaders capable of addressing the problems rather than allowing themselves to be divided along ethnic and religious lines.

 

“So we need a president that will unite us. We need a president that will work tirelessly to secure this country,” he said.

The former governor expressed concern over the abduction of Nigerian graduates who were travelling to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme, questioning why the government had been unable to rescue victims of kidnapping despite advances in technology.

“Just look at the latest news a few days ago. We had 22 graduates of this country who are just going to serve the nation in our youth service who were kidnapped. And we are still campaigning for the next election. It shouldn’t be,” Obi said.

“Where were they kidnapped? Which bush did they take them to? Is it not in Nigeria?” he asked.

“Those who are funding and demanding for 1 billion, are they funding from outside Nigeria? No.”

Obi said the government should deploy available technology and intelligence capabilities to identify and apprehend criminal groups operating across the country.

“In today’s technological know-how, with available technology, with everything, we should be able to find where people who are doing bad things are,” he said.

“And it’s in that bush in Nigeria. Some of us should be able to go into that bush until everybody dies out.

“We cannot continue this way.”

He also called for improved welfare, equipment and logistical support for security agencies, arguing that security personnel must be adequately equipped and their families protected.

“We have security agencies. They must work,” Obi said.

“We must make sure we provide them with the logistics for them to work. We must make sure we are with them.

“We must make sure they are properly taken care of and that the families are taken care of if they are not available, if anything happens to them.”

Obi further said Nigeria needs a president who would be physically present and lead efforts to address the country’s problems.

“We want a president that will lead from the front. We want a president that will be available,” he said.

He also outlined what he described as his approach to governance if elected president, saying he would prioritise remaining in Nigeria rather than spending extended periods abroad.

“For four years of being in office, everything I’m doing, holidays, everything must be in Nigeria,” Obi said.

“You travel out only for critical meetings that will attract to our country.”

The former Anambra governor also urged supporters to take the 2027 election seriously, particularly at the polling-unit level, stressing that voting should not end with casting a ballot.

“Refer them to examples they will use. Protests are not fought the same way. We are all pulling agents,” he said.

“When you go to your polling unit, you vote. Stay there until the vote is counted.”

Also speaking during the meeting, activist and prominent Obi supporter Aisha Yesufu said preparations were already underway to establish a stronger polling-unit agent and vote-protection structure ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Yesufu said the campaign had been working with technology platforms, political groups, movements, candidates and aspirants to recruit and organise polling-unit agents.

“For those who are asking about the polling unit agents, in the last, I think, month-plus, that’s basically the things that we have been doing,” she said.

She said the group had held meetings with technology platforms, including Smart Ballot, as part of efforts to build a database of supporters and potential polling-unit agents.

“Yes, we’re working with Smart Ballot. And we also need to have it where it gets into the database of His Excellency, that we’re putting together, that we’re going to work with the party,” Yesufu said.

She said the structure would involve the Nigeria Democratic Congress, candidates, aspirants and various support movements.

“We’re working with candidates. We’re working with even aspirants. We’re working with movements from Basia, Obedient Movement, OK Movement, Village Voice Movement,” she said.

“We’re working with people all across. And people are sending in those people at the different polling units.”

According to Yesufu, the plan is not simply to recruit people who would appear at polling units on election day, but to select people who are committed to the political process and willing to mobilise voters.

“What we want to do, we don’t want to do what happened last election, where we just got people just lined up,” she said.

She said potential polling-unit agents would be assessed based on their commitment and involvement in their communities.

“It’s not just a matter of, oh, let me come in and earn a few bucks. It’s a matter of you are invested. You’re passionate about it,” Yesufu said.

She also disclosed plans to establish a network of additional supporters who would assist polling-unit agents and protect votes during the election.

“And a critical thing that someone had also mentioned earlier, which we’re already working on, is that every polling unit agent will be, he or she will be at their polling unit,” she said.

“And we’ll have others, of course, who are polling unit protectors and all of that, at every polling unit.”

Yesufu said the network would ensure that polling units without a designated agent would still have people available to monitor proceedings.

“If we don’t have anybody in any polling unit, it will mean that we have 20 or 30 that are already there, know each other,” she said.

She also said several digital platforms were being deployed to coordinate the structure.

“That’s where, you know, Smart Ballot comes in many things. And we also have Obedient Connect and a whole lot of other apps that we’re working with,” Yesufu said.

She urged supporters not to operate independently, saying different organisations and platforms should combine their strengths ahead of the election.

“In this, as we go into this election, we cannot do this individually,” she said.

“There are different apps, there are different movements. Everybody has their area of strength. And we are going to explore every area of strength that we have.”

Yesufu said the overall electoral structure would only be as strong as its weakest component.

“We’re going to be as strong as the weakest link, and so we must make the weakest link to be extremely strong, so that whatever happens, that weakest link is already strong enough to withstand whatever force that is against them,” she said.

She added that Obi and his running mate were closely involved in efforts to strengthen polling-unit operations and protect votes.

“His Excellency Mr. Peter Obi and his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, they are very much invested in the issue of polling unit agents,” Yesufu said.

“They are following it closely, and they are invested in vote protection, that every vote that is given to them must be protected.”

Yesufu said technology and data would play a major role in the 2027 election, including allowing the campaign to directly communicate with individual supporters.

“And for us, and where we met with people, it’s about data, data, data. This election is going to be about data, it’s going to be about technology,” she said.

She described a proposed system in which Obi would be able to access the database and communicate directly with registered supporters across different parts of the country.

“When His Excellency on the database, he goes in there, he clicks on a random state, random local government, random ward, random polling unit, and click on somebody’s number, and he will get that person and call and say, hey, this is Mr. Peter Obi running for president, and have a conversation with that person,” she said.

Yesufu said the structure was already being developed ahead of the election.

She reiterated that Obi and his running mate were paying particular attention to polling-unit agents and vote protection.