• Thursday, May 23, 2024
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Peter Obi speaks on joining Tinubu’s administration, stabilizing naira

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In a new interview, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, spoke on President Tinubu’s offer to opposition presidential candidates to join his administration.

Obi said he was in the process of challenging the poll results, which must be complete before anything, noting it was important that the President of the country is elected in a credible and right way.

In an interview on Monday on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show‘, Obi stated, “We are in the process of challenging the results of the presidential poll and that as to be complete before anything.

“ We are also building the nation by being in the opposition, but it is important that people are elected the right way”, he added.

Obi also said that the only way to stabilise the naira is to secure the country and block all oil leakages.

He added that the dollar has become the underground currency of the Nigerian economy as the naira continues to decline in value.

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“If you can secure Nigeria, block all the oil leakages, we will be able to attract foreign investment and stabilise the naira,” Obi said.

The former Anambra governor’s comment comes as the naira remains under pressure in recent months, which experts attribute to increased demand for dollars amid dollar shortage occasioned by low inflows from oil receipts and foreign capital.

The Naira is about N1100 per dollar in the parallel market; naira has lost 35.50 per cent of its value against the dollar, falling from 738/$ at the beginning of the year on the parallel market.

Also speaking further, Obi described fuel subsidy as an organised crime.

“Fuel subsidy is organised crime. I said it repeatedly that it should be removed,” Obi said. “For me, the approach would have been, is to remove the corruption and criminal side of it and remove the excess demand.”

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“By doing this, you would have reduced it by 50 per cent. The remaining 50 per cent is what we would have been able to, after consultation with various stakeholders in order to find a way in an organised manner, remove and show the proceed of the gains of the removal to be invested in critical development areas.”

The former Anambra governor said he is totally against military intervention as a process of leadership emergence.

“I cannot go to war with Niger Republic because you cannot go to war with another country when you have war in your country,” Obi said. “The only war Nigeria needs is war on insecurity and war on Economy. I would do anything within my powers to fight that war.”