Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has declared that though he is not a saint, he is not a thief.
Obi made the comment while speaking on a Twitter space hosted by Parallel Facts on Saturday, July 29.
He said he left Government House, Awka, without a kobo, after his tenure as Anambra state governor.
His words:
“I am not a saint, I have never claimed to be a saint, but I am not also a thief. I left the government without stealing a kobo, nobody told me to save, but I saved both in naira and dollars.”
Obi also lamented Nigeria’s high cost of governance, noting that reducing it is the first step to ending corruption in the country.
He said
“If all of us (politicians) decide to end corruption today, we can, starting from the top (Federal Government).
“We will ensure all revenues are accounted for and well utilized. We must deal decisively with the high cost of governance in Nigeria.
“The number one problem we have in Nigeria is corruption. It kills entrepreneurship, professionalism and hard work. It allows people to have wealth without enterprise, and it destroys the entire system.
“You can’t tell people to endure hardship and be living a rockstar life and buying foreign cars at exorbitant prices.”
The former Anambra state governor also called for retirement age for those seeking public office.
According to him, such a policy will allow young people in Nigeria to participate fully in the political space.
“There should be a retirement age for political office holders. The young people need to come on board,” he noted.
As of the time of this report, almost 25,000 people were listening on the Twitter space, one of the highest ever on the micro-blogging platform.
During the electioneering period, Obi promised to address Nigerians every month.
The LP presidential candidate is currently in court, asking the judiciary to declare him the winner of the 2023 electoral contest.