In an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday night, Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, drew sharp comparisons between Nigeria’s current state and the ill-fated Titanic, condemning the ostentatious lifestyles of Nigerian leaders amidst the country’s struggles.
Speaking on the 25th anniversary of Nigeria’s democracy, Obi emphasized the need for leaders to lead by example, especially during difficult times. “The first thing you do as a leader who inherited a difficult situation is to lead by example, and it starts by your own style, your behaviour, your conduct, how you manage resources. You cannot say that things are difficult when you’re living in conspicuous consumption,” Obi stated.
Highlighting the severity of the housing crisis, Obi noted, “Nigeria today is the country with the highest amount of people without homes – over 24 million, yet you’re spending twenty-something billion to build a house for one person.”
Obi likened Nigeria’s situation to an airplane facing turbulence, stressing the need for a clear and decisive plan. “You enter a plane, there is bad weather, there’s going to be turbulence. The pilot says, we’re going to go through bad weather, it’s going to take us maybe one hour, two hours because of this weather, and he follows it through. That is not the time – in that bad weather, everybody, even the crew, are asked to sit down. That’s not the time to start serving food and wine and everything when everything is up and down.”
Drawing a parallel to the Titanic, Obi remarked, “While it was going down, people on the upper deck were busy dancing until the whole thing collapsed, that’s what is happening now. We should change and do things rightly. We can change and manage corruption and everything and all that.”
Obi called for immediate actions to reduce the cost of governance and tackle massive corruption. “You start by living like somebody who is coming through difficulty, who is facing difficulty, who wants to change things. That’s how we do it. You don’t engage in what we’ve been doing – buying vehicles, partying and everything as if things are normal when you say there is difficulty. You need to deal with the issue of cutting the cost of governance, that’s where you start.”
Reflecting on his tenure as the governor of Anambra, Obi emphasized the importance of setting a personal example and focusing on the future rather than dwelling on the past. “The role of a leader is not to remind people of the past or mention the past or think about the past. Your role is to show the path by doing things that are right. Change starts from you, by you if you decide to walk the right path, that’s how it starts,” he said.
When asked about his rising popularity since the last election, Obi responded, “Mine is to continue interacting and being part of the process of building a new Nigeria that is possible, because we can’t go on this way. We’re heading into a disaster, we must do things rightly.”
Obi concluded by expressing his commitment to improving Nigeria for its citizens, especially the poor. “Like I always said, I’m not desperate to be president, I’m desperate to see Nigeria work, and work for the poor people of Nigeria. The system has been very uncaring for the people of Nigeria, and we must succeed. Work where we have to remove this criminalised system, corruption that we the politicians have unleashed on the country and make it better.”
