2027: It’s time to build trust among ourselves – Obi tells North

Ahead of the 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party has told the North that it is time to build trust and remove division between them.

Obi also suggested that the insecurity in Nigeria, especially in the North, rests squarely on the issue of poverty, insisting that Nigeria could be great if its leaders change and invest in humanity.

Obi stated this on Sunday while delivering a fiery speech at the National Consultative Group (North) crucial meeting in Abuja.

DAILY POST earlier reported that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Governor of Rivers State Rotimi Amaechi, former Vice Presidential candidate of the Labour Party Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, and Obi met in Abuja on Sunday.

The opposition figures were meeting at the Continental Hotel in the nation’s capital for the National Political Consultative Group, North.

The meeting is part of the build-up to the formation of a coalition to unseat President Bola Tinubu in 2027.

In his speech, Obi told the northern leaders that they had all tried in the past and voted for religion, saying they should now consider voting for competence and capacity in future elections.

The former Anambra State Governor also used the occasion to question President Bola Tinubu’s government’s N15 trillion budget for the Lagos-Calabar coastal road amid the ravaging insecurity in the North.

He said: “I have maintained that the insecurity in Nigeria, especially in the North, rests on poverty. I have been in the financial industry for years; when you look for cash you go to Kano. Go to Kano today, those industries are not there. Go to Kaduna, there are no textile industries again in Kaduna.

“We used to book Kaduna trade fair two years in advance to get a space. Today nobody goes there. We used to go to Maiduguri for cash, today nobody goes there. That’s the poverty. And when you have poverty, you will have criminality that you can’t control. It all rests squarely on governance to solve.

“I have always said that the North can change Nigeria, the greatest asset of this country is in the North. The solution is in the North.

“Why do we need to do a budget where we have to do a road for N15 trillion? If we put N1.5 trillion on insecurity in the North today, we can start dealing with it. We can capitalize Agric Bank with N1 trillion, and put another N1 trillion into poverty alleviation.

“One of the governors told me he wanted to do small poverty alleviation and he went to Bank of Industry and got over N2 billion, but over two years they couldn’t even put their own counterpart funding. We can solve it. The more you pull people out of poverty, the more you solve insecurity.

“We have a great country that can be changed if our leaders can change and invest in humanity. It is very easy; it’s not a difficult thing.

“And all I am pleading with all of us is for us to build trust. I know we have issues here and there and everything. This is the time for us to build trust among ourselves. Believe that we are one and remove our division.

“We have all tried; we voted for religion. Let’s vote competence. Let’s vote for capacity. Let’s make this work. It can work. Let’s hold our leaders responsible.”

2027: It’s time to build trust among ourselves – Obi tells North