2023: Peter Obi rules out probe of previous governments as Nigeria’s president

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate for the Labour Party, declared on Friday that if elected president of Nigeria in 2023, he would not prioritise the investigation of previous administrations.

He said this in Abuja at the introduction of Datti Baba-Ahmed, his running companion.

Obi said: “As for probing the past government let me tell you, you see me argue that you can’t close your shop and be chasing thieves. Those who only look at yesterday and today will miss tomorrow. God did not give us eyes at the back, mine is to look forward.

“If you come into the government today and decide to stop the leakage first, you will get more. I am not going to be part of any form of victimization or witch-hunt, it won’t happen. Nigerians must live within law and order.”

The former Anambra governor also stressed the need for judicious use of public resources in order to revamp the economy.

He added: “And I challenge everybody, go and show me anybody who was a contractor, who is a civil servant, who was a supplier, who will say in my eight years of being in government in Anambra State, I sat down with him and I said add one naira to this. I will resign. I won’t continue with this (if it is true). That was why we were able to save about N70 billion.

“Go and read what my former Head of Service said. He wrote an article, ‘Stingeness as a development strategy’ because whatever money I saved when the civil servants were arguing with me, when I started paying them their dues, their leave allowance they started asking me where I got the money. Public money should be used for public good.”