The vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Yusuf Datti, on Thursday, slammed the Central Bank of Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari, over the naira redesign, describing the policy as “poorly implemented’’ and reflecting weakness on the President’s part.
Datti spoke on Thursday during a courtesy visit to the Palace of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe.
He said, “Maybe this President is becoming a weakling, as they would say, a lame duck president, and if you cede one inch, you are likely to cede another inch (sic). It (new naira) has been done and it stays, and it was poorly implemented, and everything about this government and the policy is poorly done, including our economy, security, and level of corruption.”
He also added that his principal, Peter Obi, would win the February 25 presidential poll.
Datti stated that the pendulum was swinging towards Obi’s victory, as according to him, only the LP candidate among the leading presidential candidates, has a clean record after leaving office as governor.
He said that apart from Peter Obi being the most decent and qualified among his fellow contestants, 2023 is the turn of the Ndigbo and Christians to produce the next president of Nigeria.
He stated, “Your Majesty, I wish to inform you that we have gone through the records of all the past governors that have ruled various states in Nigeria, and we discovered that only my principal, Peter Obi, kept a clean record and left money in the government coffers while leaving office, which is why the anti-graft agencies have never invited him for any questioning.’’
He added that Obi was the right person Nigeria needed now to unite the country and revive the country’s ailing economy.
He added, “On a more serious note, Nigerians should seize this golden opportunity God has provided them by electing Obi as the next president of Nigeria, so that he can use his wealth of experience and qualifications to steer this country to the right path, or else we will be forced to pay for our lifetime mistakes in the future. All we need are free and fair elections from the umpire and 100 per cent Ndigbo votes, and the rest will be history.”
In his response, Achebe, who is also the Chairman of the South-East Council of Traditional Rulers and Chairman, Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council, briefly read a communiqué the South-East Traditional Rulers Council issued after its Wednesday meeting in Enugu.
The monarch said that the communiqué directed traditional rulers in Igboland to organise a town hall in their respective communities to sensitise their subjects to the need to shun threats of an election boycott or, at worst, sit at home and come out en masse on the election days to cast their votes for candidates of their choice.
Appealing to the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure free, fair and transparent elections, Achebe urged security agents in the country to provide adequate protection for the voters against political thugs and gunmen.
