 |
| Mr. Peter Obi |
Amid the widespread leadership challenges plaguing Nigeria, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has urged Nigerians to be more discerning in choosing their future leaders.
Highlighting the current leadership failures that have contributed to the nation’s difficulties, Obi emphasized the critical qualities citizens should prioritize to prevent a repeat of today’s troubling circumstances.
His call serves as a wake-up for Nigerians to demand accountability, vision, and integrity from those who aspire to govern the country.
Reacting to the apparent lack of federal government presence in the series of challenges across the country, Obi said that no magic can be done where you have leaders that are incompetent and lack capacity, character and compassion.
On his X handle on Monday against the backdrop of the numerous challenges in the land with little or no government impact, Obi said in his write-up titled "What cannot be hidden in Leadership" that:
“Leadership of a nation is such that it's either succeeding or failing, none can be hidden. There are critical areas of leadership that must exist for a nation to move forward, and these are summed up in four Cs: Competence, Capacity, Character and Compassion. Where these four are non-existent, there is no magic you can do.
"It's in this line that I have always maintained that we must move away from voting based on tribe and religion, and begin to vote for people with competence, capacity, character, and compassion, because we have all seen, painfully, what leadership without these qualities has done to our country.
"Competence because Nigeria today needs a leader who understands the issues, who has the knowledge, experience, and clear ideas to solve them. Capacity because it is not a ceremonial position; it requires strength, stamina, and the mental energy to confront our complex challenges. And above all, leadership must be rooted in character and integrity because without integrity, public trust collapses, corruption thrives, and selfishness takes over.
"But perhaps most importantly, we need compassion, because when a leader lacks compassion, human lives are treated as statistics, and suffering is ignored.
"Sadly, the evidence is right before our eyes. Recently, we witnessed severe flooding in Niger State that claimed nearly 200 lives, with many still missing. Yet, not even a single presidential visit, this, in a nation where the scene of the tragedy is less than an hour away by helicopter.
"Just days ago, over 200 Nigerians, innocent men, women, children, and even soldiers were massacred in Benue State. Again, no presidential visit. No physical presence at the scenes of pain. No genuine national mourning. No leadership face to comfort the grieving or give hope to the people.
"Yet, we have seen what true leadership looks like elsewhere:
"In India, after a plane crash killed over 200 people, the Prime Minister was physically at the scene within hours.
"In South Africa, when floods claimed 78 lives, the president went personally to the affected communities, stood with them, and took responsibility.
"That is leadership with compassion. That is leadership that understands the value of human life. But here in Nigeria, we have normalised leadership without empathy, without accountability, and without a human face.
"That is why I insist: Nigeria does not just need another president; Nigeria needs a leader, a leader with competence, capacity, character, and compassion. Until we choose leaders on these principles, the cycle of pain will only continue.
A New Nigeria is POssible,” Obi concluded in a press release signed by Ibrahim Umar, spokesman of the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR).
0 comments:
Post a Comment