A presidential aspirant in the 2027 general election, Mr Peter Obi, has charged Nigerians to be ready to protect their votes by waiting at the polling units after casting their votes next year.
Obi who said he will not pay to recruit polling unit agents if he gets to contest in the election, urged the electorate to ensure that their votes are properly counted, recorded and transmitted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before leaving the polling centres.
The former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate stated this at the weekend at the University on the Niger, Umunya, Anambra State owned by the Anglican Communion.
Obi who recently dumped the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) where he is aspiring for the party’s presidential ticket, during the visit, donated N25 million to support the development of infrastructure in the institution.
Fielding questions from newsmen as to why he is still donating millions to education institutions when he is expected to be saving such money to fund his presidential ambition the former Anambra state governor stated funding the education sector is more important than spending money to win presidential election.
He emphasised that the future greatness of Nigeria lies majorly on the education of the children, Obi said that he is more interested in investing in their education than investing in his ambition to become president of the country.
He particularly urged Nigerian to be ready to protect their votes during the presidential election rather waiting for the contestants to recruit polling unit agents to police the votes.
He made it clear that he will not pay anyone to either vote for him or be a polling agent for him during the presidential election.
“I don’t need to recruit anybody (as polling unit agents), they (voters) should recruit themselves because we are talking about a better society for them and their children,” Obi asserted.
He stated that he recently received commendation from the University of Nigeria Nsukka for his support a year ago to the Department of Dentistry.
He said that he was contacted and told that only 15 out of the 60 students approved for the department were finding it difficult to write their graduation examination.
He said that he visited the institution’s department at Utuku Ozalla, gave donation to the department and that he received a ‘thank you’ message a few days ago from the institution that the department currently admits 60 students just because they have procured the equipment.
Obi said “Let me tell you, public life is not about winning elections; it is not about office; it is about investing in humanity.
“And for me, what I am doing here (N25 million donation to the University on the Niger, Umunya, Anambra state) is more important to me than winning election because at the end of the day, we all came here (to this world) with nothing and we are going to go with nothing. So, we must invest in building a better future.”
He commended the vice-chancellor of the institution, a former minister of Power and UNN vice-chancellor, Very Rev Professor Chinedu Nebo, for his contributions to the greatness of Nigeria.
Obi stated that the country would have been better today if the leaders have been making sacrifices like Prof Nebo stating further that despite his position as the Vice-chancellor of the institution, the former Power Minister who is currently aged about 74 years is still consulting for about ten other institutions across the country.
Appreciating Obi’s gesture, Prof Nebo stated that it was Obi who assisted the Anglican Communion to establish the institution when he was governor of Anambra State, adding that since then he had continued to donate money for the growth of the university annually.
