According to Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, it is not enough for anyone to condemn the activities of agitators in the country without also looking at what led to their agitations.
Peter Obi stated at Chatham House on Monday, January 16, 2023, that he has condemned all agitators who are killing and destroying property in the country to press their demands.
This was stated by the LP candidate in response to a question about his alleged refusal to condemn the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the southeast.
The Federal Government prohibited IPOB in 2017, and the Government of the United Kingdom accepted Nigeria’s classification of IPOB as a terrorist organization in May 2022.
Many Nigerians believe Obi is afraid to speak out against the proscribed group, whose main goal is to separate the southeast from Nigeria.
This belief was bolstered on Sunday, January 15, 2023, when the presidential candidate designated ISWAP and Boko Haram as terrorist organizations while leaving IPOB off the list.
However, Obi maintained that he has always condemned all agitators, including IPOB, which has been accused on several occasions of killing and destroying property in the country’s southeast.
He said, “You are not following me, even yesterday, I spoke about Biafra being ended 53 years ago. It’s all over the place in the space. I condemned all agitators but in condemning them, you have to look at what brought about these agitations all over the place. So, we have IPOB, we have the Yoruba Nation movement, we have all sorts.
“When you have created this level of massive poverty, where 63 per cent of your population is poor, you’re going to create all sorts of problems.
“I was speaking to a British minister this morning, I said we have about 40 per cent unemployment, about 60 per cent youth unemployment, young people in their productive age doing nothing.
“If you have 15 per cent unemployment in Britain today, you’re going to have massive agitation. Nobody will be able to leave his house”.
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He also said, “What you have seen is a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the years, which will be solved by good governance, When people start seeing justice, fairness, and inclusive government and doing the right thing, all those things will start reversing itself (sic)”.
Many Nigerian youths who refer to themselves as Obidients support Obi’s presidential candidacy.
