Faults FG’s power tariff hike, advocates emergency intervention for poor

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has said his major concern is how to solve the myriad of problems confronting the country and not the “family” misunderstanding among his party members. 

 
According to Obi, the time for elections and politics is over, adding that leaders in and out of power should be focusing on salvaging the lives of the poor.
 
“Making the country a better place for the people in the grassroots and different communities should be a priority for all,” he said. The former governor of Anambra State stated this, yesterday, in Bauchi, when he commissioned a water project he donated to Sabo Layi Community.He said he was going around the people in communities in Nigeria to know how they were fairing amid the hardship facing the larger percentage of Nigerians.
 
“I am going around to see if there are little things I can help them provide to make their lives better and then request them to continue to pray for Nigeria,” he explained.
 
Obi pledged to also assist with cash donations to about 100 people in the community.  It is time, he said, for the leaders of the country to love one another and work to assist the poor. 
 
Faulting the recent hike in electricity tariff by the Federal Government, he rather said: “It is right to tax the rich, who can afford to pay more and use the resources to help those who cannot afford it. We need to do more on power; it is taking too long. We need to generate and distribute more power, but we must consider that the majority of Nigerians are suffering. So, we need to support those areas to be able to live and produce something. When they start to produce something, we are pushing them out of poverty and that is where my theory of moving from consumption to production comes in.
 
“We cannot tax people first; we need to support small businesses and ensure that this tariff is not spread across the same level – for the big and the small.”
 
He debunked insinuations that he might leave the party. “I only advocated peace. I am a man who believes in peace and unity. I believe that there is no difference between others and me, but I have the grace of the Almighty. That is why I’m coming down to the community, I could have sent someone to do this; but I said no, I am going to the communities and embracing them, talking to them and knowing how to solve their problems.”