It has been a busy week for the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, who has been on the move more often than usual engaging diasporans on matters of national development.
This has seen Mr. Peter Obi, in the past five days, visit Germany, Italy, Canada, and the U.S.A. According to him, diasporans represent the core of our human development capital and contribute immensely to nation-building via remittances and technical knowledge transfer.
Considering that in PMB’s administration, we have found presidential addresses very few even in the times Nigerians were in dire need of an assurance that we are coursing the right direction.
The few times the nation was addressed by President Buhari, it came with consequences:
- During the #EndSars movement, the youths clamored to be addressed and assured that they are not being targeted by the police or the system. The address came and many were broken, this led to one of the biggest Exodus we’ve experienced as a nation.
Most of my friends who are either in the Diaspora or still in Nigeria initiated their japa move after that address.
- President Buhari in addressing insecurities threatened a tribe with the horrors of the Civil war and ultimately ended with “I will speak to them in a language they understand.” The post was taken down by Jack’s Twitter after it was reported by Nigerians, this led to months of the Twitter ban.
Hence, Mr. Peter Obi’s ability to freely engage us on his plans and objectives if elected president shouldn’t be taken for granted. Yet to be elected president but he has engaged Nigerians more than any of our presidents in history.
In California, U.S.A, Mr. Peter Obi informed the people that their reserved responsibility is to hold the government accountable. He said, “besides voting, a citizen’s most coveted role is holding an elected government accountable. With your education, exposure and understanding of government responsibilities in your host country, and collective leverage, it is your duty to help hold your state and home national government accountable back.”
After addressing diasporans in California, Peter Obi went on a Live broadcast with Adeola Fayehun, a Nigerian journalist based in Los Angeles.
It is without a doubt that Mr. Obi has been the most proactive of all the presidential candidates and at this dire hour in our history, his proactivity is what we need.
