The former Anambra governor also clarified that nobody was funding his campaigns.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, says the rumour that he offered N40 billion to his opponent in the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, to step down for him was false.
“I never knowingly or unknowingly, offered anybody money to become president. In all my talks with Kwankwaso, I never offered him any money,” Obi said on Monday at an interactive forum with the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) in Lagos.
The former Anambra governor also clarified that nobody was funding his campaigns.
“Nobody as of today will say he’s funding Peter Obi. I’m funding myself. I don’t pay people to work for me,” he said.
Obi noted that the first thing he would do if elected would be to ensure that the country feeds itself.
On whether he would borrow to execute his programmes in the face of the rising debt profile of the country, the LP standard bearer maintained that there was nothing wrong with borrowing if it’s channelled into production.
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“Nothing is wrong with borrowing if invested properly. Every nation in the world that I have studied borrow. The problem with borrowing is what you do with the money. It’s okay to borrow for production but there’s a problem when you borrow for consumption. I will only borrow for production and I will explain to Nigerians why I’m borrowing. I must talk to the people because the job of a leader is to communicate with the people,” he explained.
While stressing the importance of the rule of law, Obi disclosed that he would invest in intangible assets such as education to drive the economy and attract foreign investors to the country.
He also promised to declare war on the energy sector with the aim to improve electricity supply in the country.
“I will declare war on power. It’s possible to have steady power supply because power generation is not rocket science. We will change the narrative by bringing people who know and understand the system to turn things around for good,” said Obi.
