Peter Obi Kicks Off 2027 Election Campaigns, Challenges Tinubu, Atiku, Others
- Peter Obi kicked off his 2027 presidential campaign at a press conference in Onitsha on Friday, August 21, challenging President Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and other rivals to defend their records publicly
- The NDC candidate said he and running mate Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso would personally take their campaign across the country without relying on proxies
- Obi identified poverty, insecurity, unemployment and weak infrastructure as key challenges he plans to address if elected president
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Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Party (NDC), has formally launched his 2027 presidential campaign, calling on every candidate in the race, such as President Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and others to face Nigerian voters directly and justify their bid for the country's highest office.
Obi made the declaration at a press conference held at his Onitsha residence on Friday, telling rival candidates that no one seeking the presidency should shelter behind "the high walls of power or rely on proxies and surrogates" during the campaign period.
The former Anambra State governor, who is running alongside Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso as his deputy, said both men would personally carry their message to Nigerians in every part of the country, pledging to listen to citizens and engage them openly rather than delegate that responsibility to others.
Obi's assessment of Nigeria's challenges
Obi described the 2027 election as a critical moment for voters to weigh the records, ideas and proposals of all candidates against what he called "grave economic and security challenges." His central message was that "Nigeria can work, and Nigeria must work."
He named poverty, food insecurity, internal displacement, unemployment, poor infrastructure, unreliable electricity, insecurity and the high cost of doing business as the most pressing problems facing the country, while arguing that Nigeria still held the people, resources, talent and market capacity needed to build a strong economy.
On the economy, Obi said his administration would move Nigeria away from being heavily consumption-driven towards a model built on production, investment, enterprise and human-capital development. He added that every naira of government spending should carry a clear purpose, with major public investments yielding measurable results.
Obi's policy proposals
Addressing insecurity, Obi said no economy could thrive when citizens could not farm, travel, trade or do business safely. He called for better intelligence sharing among security agencies, stronger policing and border control, wider use of technology and community-based approaches to detecting threats early.
On healthcare, he pledged to improve maternal and child health, expand access to essential medicines and better equip health workers, describing Nigeria's poor health indicators as a serious drag on productivity and development.
Obi also laid out a regional development approach, saying the North-West could grow through expanded agriculture, livestock, irrigation and agro-processing, while the North-East should focus on reconstruction, education and enterprise growth, with every region exploiting its own comparative advantages.
He urged voters to press candidates with hard questions, demand evidence for every promise made, and called on all parties to run campaigns free of hatred and violence, with a commitment to respecting the final outcome of the election.
See the video of his address on X here:
Source: Legit.ng
