When former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi resigned as a presidential aspirant under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), everybody wondered what the plan was.
In the days that followed, the presidential hopeful announced that he was joining the Labour Party and would be contesting for the presidential ticket under the party. Eventually, he emerged as the choice of the party during the primaries after the other presidential aspirants stepped down for him.
One of those aspirants was Political-Economist, Professor Pat Utomi. In an interview with Vanguard, he explained his reason for stepping down for Peter Obi and why he had his full support.
Peter Obi and Pat Utomi
He said,
“We have to look at the bigger picture. Our country is in a desperate situation. Nigeria is on the verge of collapse. From the point of view of finance, Nigeria is purely bankrupt. States are not paying salaries. Ostensibly, we have spent over 400 billion on so-called subsidies this year and very few people are willing to lend to Nigeria. The corruption in the system is frightening that every part of that so-called subsidy is corruption. We don’t have the political courage to do what should be done so we are rotten in that territory. And as a country we are economically crippled.”
“The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has been on strike for months and students are out of the universities. All the money these lecturers are asking for to fix the system is a small fraction of what one man stole.”
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He continued,
“So, seeing all these problems and then thinking about me or my ego is madness. My entire life in politics has never been about me, it has always been about how to better the common good of all.”
“The first choice before us is how to liberate Nigeria from Nigerian politicians. The second is how to save Nigerians from the dollarisation of their politics. These are what we need to stop.
In stopping this, you have to accept the idea of a man who said, ‘sorry I am not going to use Dollars to go to party primaries.’ So, my recognising Peter Obi was because of the statement he made. And that is a worthy statement to make.”
