Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has said he would fulfil his anti-corruption pledge if elected president in the 2027 general election.
Obi spoke in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) African Service published on Tuesday via X.
The former Anambra State governor, while discussing his anti-corruption agenda, said former President Muhammadu Buhari could not tackle corruption as he had promised because, according to him, Buhari was not in control of his administration.
“He was not in charge. The difference is this: I will be in charge,” Obi said.
He said his administration’s fight against corruption would begin with the conduct of the president and his family.
“If you are not stealing, if you are not involved, your wife and family are not involved, you reduce it by 50 percent,” he said.
On the opposition coalition and the 2027 election, Obi said opposition parties should abandon calls for one presidential candidate to step down in favour of another.
Instead, he urged the opposition to focus on mobilising more voters.
“In the last elections, Sokoto had over 2 million registered voters. Opposition should be talking about how do we get additional 25 million people to come in and vote. We don’t need to step down,” he said.
Obi also maintained his position on the removal of petrol subsidy, saying his concern had always been the corruption associated with the policy.
“I have not changed on fuel subsidy. What has changed is that whenever I talk about methodology, people say, ‘Oh, he has changed.’ From day one that I talked about subsidy, I talked about corruption. Corruption is the problem of subsidy,” he said.
Asked whether he would restore the subsidy if elected, Obi answered in the affirmative, but said he would first address what he described as corruption associated with the policy.
“Yes, but not with the corruption associated with it. That’s why I said I will remove the corruption and retain the subsidy,” he said.
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