Ex-Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra and presidential aspirant of PDP has advised Lagos State delegates to the party’s presidential primaries to remember their children while voting during the party’s primaries.
Obi, who made the appeal when he met with Lagos PDP national delegates in Ikeja on Wednesday, told them not to be deceived by “money bags’.
According to him, if the nation must move forward, there is the need to elevate merit, capacity and competence in leadership which he possessed.
Obi said: “Your country is going through a big difficulty. What we have seen is the cumulative effects of leadership failure over the years.
“My dear people, those of you who are delegates, you will not be delegates forever. Remember, whatever you do with your votes, it can be heading to killing the society.
“I am appealing to you, it is time to sit up. This is the time to bring people with competence and capacity.
“Those of you who are delegates, please I am begging you, do not listen to me when you vote, don’t hear my voice, do not look at any of us, take the picture of your children and put in before you.”
He urged the delegates to consider the kind of society they wanted for their children, not any gratification.
Obi said that he was the most qualified for the job.
“The fundamental reason for Nigeria’s challenges is because Nigeria is a consuming nation. It is not a producing nation.
“We are a ‘sharing’ nation. Wherever you go, all people want to do is about sharing. We have a sharing formula but we don’t have a producing formula.
“My job in this election is to plead with all of you and all Nigerians, let us move Nigeria from sharing and consumption to creative production.
“This country must be productive, it is about you and the future of this country and the future of our country,” he added.
He said that many of the nation’s current challenges were tied to unproductivity, saying people must have jobs and means of livelihoods.
“The more we put people out of poverty the more you reduce criminality and violence. People must be engaged,” he said.
According to him, there is no problem in borrowing, but it must be for investment not consumption.
The Director-General of the Peter Obi Campaign Organisation, Dr Doyin Okupe, said that the former Anambra governor had an unrivalled pedigree in education, corporate governance, experience, character and integrity.
Okupe, who noted that Nigerians were waiting for Obi, said it would be fair, just and equitable to elect him.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event had in attendance, Lagos PDP state and local government area excos among others.