Some politicians deliberately keeping Nigeria underdeveloped – Peter Obi

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has revealed that some Nigerian politicians are deliberately keeping the country underdeveloped for their selfish end games.

In an interview with CNN on Friday, Obi described Nigeria as a “mess”, adding that politics of “my turn”, as well as politicians who promote ethnicity and religion are keeping Nigeria “underdeveloped”.

“That is what it was yesterday. And that is our problem, because we have been able to elect people based on ethnicity, religion, ‘my turn’, connection, or one form of bias or the other, which brought us to where we are — or structure, which I always say is the structure of criminality,” he said.

“That is what we want to dismantle now and ensure that the next election is based on character, capacity, competence, and commitment to do the right thing.

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“Nigeria is not just in a physical mess; it is at the last stage of collapsing. The people in the north don’t have a secure place; they don’t have good roads; they don’t buy bread cheaper than people in the south. So [it is with] people in the south.

“All you hear about ethnicity, religion, connection, ‘my turn’ is an elite conspiracy to keep Nigeria underdeveloped. But now, we have reached the edge. We can no longer continue this way.”

Although Obi did not mention any politician in particular, his comment insinuates a reference to a statement by Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in which the latter had said it is his turn to be president.

“You have not heard this from me before. This is the first place I am saying this. It’s my time now. If not for me leading the battlefront, Buhari wouldn’t have won. He contested first, second and third time, but lost. He even said on television that he won’t contest again,” Tinubu had said, while addressing his supporters in June.