The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has expressed anger at “leaders like me, who, out of greed and insatiable desperation for material acquisition, have made life a living hell for others.”

This was after he encountered an elderly woman who left him “seriously worried about the depth of insensitivity that characterises our political and institutional leadership in Nigeria.”

The encounter happened on Saturday while he was interacting with the management and students of Shanahan College of Nursing Sciences, Nsukka, Enugu.

In a post on X, Obi said, “During my official visit to the institution, I noticed this elderly woman struggling desperately to talk to me.

“People around tried to push her away and shun her into silence, but I instantly requested to have a word with her and hear her story.”

He said the woman introduced herself as a retired civil servant who devoted the productive years of her life to working for the nation, adding that her pension had not been paid for a while.

“What was more heartbreaking was that she had been sick and admitted to the hospital for over a week, with medical bills piling up, but her immediate worry was that she did not even have one naira to buy food.

“I felt a surge of anger and pity—anger at leaders like me, who, out of greed and insatiable desperation for material acquisition, have made life a living hell for others by denying them the fruits of their labour. And then pity for the poor elderly woman and many others like her whose painful stories may never be heard.

“That is the nation we live in—a nation that has lost its sense of humanity and compassion,” he said.

Obi reiterated that any government that withholds the pensions and gratuities of senior citizens in their vulnerable years is wicked.

“As a governor, I inherited and paid off over N30 billion in pensions and gratuities accumulated over the years because I understood the pain the elderly citizens were going through.

“I instantly gave her my little support and promised to follow up on her case with the hospital management.

“However, I am more concerned about the many others like her, dying in silence in many parts of the nation because no one can speak for them. We must fix this nation. Nigeria must work for all, and everyone must get their due rewards for their productive contributions,” he concluded.