Peter Obi in Chatham House: How I will address Biafra agitators

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, says he will deal with the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) protests by being a better leader. He revealed this while discussing his vision for policy and governance reforms in Nigeria at the Chatham House, United Kingdom.

Chatham House is a policy institute in the world. Its goal is to help governments and societies build a safe, prosperous, and fair world that will last.

“IPOB and other agitations in the country are a culmination of years of bad leadership,” Obi said. “All those things will start reversing themselves when the leadership problem is sorted. I and Datti will talk with all agitators.”

Addressing the issue of foreign direct investment in the country, he stated that foreign capital is afraid of corruption and that he will do everything in his power to reduce corruption to the bare minimum so that even Nigerian youths who have migrated due to a lack of opportunities will return home.

Read also: 10 quotes from Obi’s speech at Chatham House

The former Anambra State governor also said the current ethnic tension and agitations across Nigeria was because of injustice, unfairness and marginalisation in the country.

He noted that he was optimistic that when grievances of the various agitators are addressed and resolved if he is elected president, the tension would go down significantly.

“It is bad and it is a result of injustice, unfairness, and marginalisation. As soon as you resolve these issues it starts going down. We would show compassion, we would show love, we would lead from the front”, Obi said.

Answering questions on his plans at tackling the spate of insecurity across Nigeria, Obi noted that he was ready to dialogue with aggrieved groups towards finding a lasting solution to the security problem, stressing that those who are not ready to dialogue would be dealt with.

Obi pointed out that he had the capacity to resolve the nation’s security threat, stressing that as governor of Anambra State he successfully secured the South East state.

“Securing Nigeria is possible, I secured Anambra State, we would talk with those who are ready, it would be carrot and stick; those who are not ready we would deal with them,” he said.

The LP presidential candidate further, promised to ensure that public basic education was free across the country, especially in northern Nigeria, revealing that if elected his administration would adopt the public-private partnership model to manage public tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

“We would ensure that basic education is free, we would drive it”, he stated.

When asked if he would remove the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele if elected, Obi stated that it was imperative that the autonomy of the CBN be maintained, stressing that it was the weakness of the political structure that is allowing the monetary space because of the weak structure.

“CBN would maintain it independent; it is not a question of the person there. Weakness of the political space allows the monetary space to take over because it is a weak structure that is allowing that to happen”, Obi added.

Obi is one the four leading presidential candidates contesting in the February 25 election.

Others are Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).