The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 Controversial presidential election, Peter Obi, has stated that he had what it takes to influence the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, in order to get a favourable outcome at the presidential polls, but he urged him to go ahead and do the right thing.
He revealed that Yakubu was a member of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND committee he chaired previously and they knew each other, adding that he never met him after he became INEC boss.
Obi made this known during the launch of ‘Peter Obi: Many Voices, One Perspective’, a book written in his honour.
The former Anambra state governor insisted that he would not give anyone money to do the wrong thing.
He expressed strong confidence that he would be Nigeria’s President.
According to him: “Anyone who thinks I’m on transit is wasting his time. Let me tell you, I must be the president of this country. I’m sure of that. If it is not today, it must be tomorrow.
“Other people who want to be, should come and tell us what they want to do, and how to do it. This is my country, I don’t have dual citizenship. If anyone thinks I am going to run away from Nigeria, they are lying.
“I have three engagements in Anambra and Lagos today. I will be speaking in Lagos tonight. We will not leave Nigeria. I am not in a hurry to become the president, but I know it must happen.
“For three years I was in court in Anambra to reclaim my governorship, just to challenge the process. Many people tried to discourage me, but I said even if the entire four years tenure elapsed for us to prove a point and correct the process, I will be fulfilled.
“My argument is that, let’s do what is right. I always tell everyone that I will not give people money to do the wrong thing. I have been the chairman of a committee; TETFUND committee, and Prof Mahmood was my member. We know ourselves, but when he became INEC chairman, I have never met him. I told him, you’re an umpire, just do what is right.
“If you have the chance to do the right thing, and you insist on perpetuating anarchy, then, it will consume everybody one day. I insist that we must do the right thing.
“I was in an event yesterday in Abuja, and it was World Food Organisation. I listened to report that stated that Nigeria will face intense hunger in years to come.
“It is Nigeria that will face hunger, not Peter Obi. The report listed Borno, Adamawa and Yobe as the states that will be worse hit, but those three states put together are five times larger in land mass of Israel, yet Egypt exports food, but Nigeria cannot feed itself.
“So we must cultivate a habit of doing the right thing. If we don’t do the right thing, it will consume us some day.”
