The presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi, has called on his counterparts in other parties to suspend their campaigns and join him to help victims of floods across states of the federation.
Obi made the call on Wednesday while addressing journalists after his visit to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State at his Abuja private residence where he had gone to discuss modalities on his planned visit to flood sites in Benue and other states.
The former Anambra State governor is in the 2023 race for Aso Rock’s top job alongside Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party, amongst others.
Obi said he expected other presidential candidates to show concerns to the plight of victims of flooding, considering how millions were spent on nomination forms alone.
Floods have hit parts of Nigeria in the last two months with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) saying that about 2.5 million persons were affected and over 603 persons killed by the flooding caused by torrential rainfall of late.
Houses and farmlands have been submerged in Lagos, Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Edo, Delta, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Ebonyi, Anambra, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Imo, Abia States, and the Federal Capital Territory.
Similarly, Obi reacted to the allegations by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State that he detained him in Anambra while he served as governor, pointing out that he had no such powers.
Obi said he was confined to his local government during the said election and urged El-Rufai to put the incident behind himself.
The former Anambra governor vowed to fix Nigeria’s challenges if he wins next year’s poll and becomes the country’s President.
On his part, Ortom encouraged Nigerians to go into the 2023 general elections with the mindset of electing the best presidential candidate among the top hopefuls.
According to Ortom, Nigeria currently runs on oxygen and would need a hands-on and detribalised leader to restore hope, development and progress.