At an interactive meeting, the Pan Niger Delta Forum tabled the demand for federalism before Obi in Bayelsa.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on Friday, made a stop at the residence of former President Goodluck Jonathan in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
Obi was joined in the meeting by his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, and the party’s leaders.
Before meeting Jonathan, Obi addressed his supporters at a presidential campaign rally held at the Oxbow Lake Pavilion in Yenagoa.
Obi assured Nigerians that whatever is wrong with the country he and Baba-Ahmed possess the mental and physical capacity to fix it.
Obi, who earlier held a town hall meeting with students, an interactive meeting with the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, and met with monarchs at the state council of traditional rulers, lamented that Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta have not gotten fair share from the Federal Government despite contributing about 80 per cent to the nation’s coffers through crude oil.
His words: “Let me assure you, whatever is wrong with this family (country) we will fix it. Anything that I am involved in must be based on justice, fairness, goodness for Nigeria.
“Let me assure the people of Bayelsa State, Nigeria has not treated you well, when you were under flood, Nigeria did not care, I was the first person that stopped our rally to visit Bayelsa because Bayelsa was under water. We will ensure that Bayelsa gets its fair share from what they have given to Nigeria.
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“All the other parties have made promise to Bayelsa State in the past but did not fulfil it. We are not going to do that, Bayelsa State deserves more than what it is getting today from Nigeria, and I am going to give it to them. Bayelsa must have roads and the best because this is where Nigeria found its first crude oil in commercial quantity.
“Everywhere there is environmental pollution, I will clean up, Bayelsa will be able to fish and eat fish from their rivers again. Most importantly we are going to dredge Rivers Niger and Benue to stop this flooding to Bayelsa.”
He also pledged to take Nigeria from a consuming country to a production country, adding that women and youths will have sensitive positions in his administration.
“This job requires people who are competent, it requires physical and mental, go and check I and Datti’s energy and age, a new Nigeria is possible, Nigeria where people will have jobs is possible, a Nigeria that will compete in the world is possible,” said Obi.
He also bemoaned the incessant strike in the nation’s education system, promising to end the menace if elected as president.
Obi said: “We will ensure there is no strike again in our universities, four years will be four years, five years will be five years, I and Datti will secure Nigeria, we will make sure there is rule of law in Nigeria, police will not harass anyone on the road, police will not stop students from carrying their laptops again.
“This is time for Nigerian youths to take up their government, we want to build a Nigeria that Nigerians will be proud to say they are Nigerians, we will support our youths to be very productive.”
Earlier at an interactive meeting, the Pan Niger Delta Forum tabled the demand for federalism before Obi.
Led by the group’s national chairman, Senator Emmanuel Ebok-Essien, Pandef insisted that Obi must be committed to a true federal structure if elected.