The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has advised Nigerians to look at the antecedents of the 18 presidential candidates on the ballot before casting their votes in 2023.

He explained that voting should not be done by religion or tribe, but by the capacity of the candidates to address prevailing challenges.

“Next year’s election should not be based on tribe. If it is by tribe, the north would have been safer and be more developed,” Mr Obi said.

He added, “Yes, we must all respect the issue of religion, but even at that, we should not follow people blindly because of religion.”

At an interactive session with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Tuesday in Abuja, Mr Obi pledged to secure and unite Nigeria if elected president in 2023.

He said unity and security were needed to address problems bedevilling the nation, including moving Nigeria from consumption to production to lift Nigerians out of poverty.

He noted that challenges of Nigeria, like unemployment, drug abuse and others, could be addressed by prioritising the production sector.

“We must secure and unite the country. When you secure the country, you are able to bring farmers to return to the farm. That alone will start addressing food inflation.

“Nigeria now has 13.8 per cent drug prevalence against the global average of 5 per cent. To deal with that crisis is production. We need to feed ourselves,” he said.

Mr Obi commended CAN for its proposed document to address the country’s challenges.

He noted that Nigeria was not short of ideas to bring solutions to anything, but what was lacking was the institutional framework and political will to implement the ideas.

The presidential candidate said Nigeria could achieve whatever it wanted by successfully implementing its great ideas.

Mr Obi also said that if elected, he would be in charge of the country with the required energy and mental requirements.

He also promised to address the increasing debt profile of the country and engage youths in addressing the problems of Nigeria.

“The job of Nigeria’s president requires physical and mental energy. I will make sure that Nigeria works. In our country people don’t do what is expected, they do what is inspected. I will be there.

“I want to hire energetic men and women to start solving these problems.

“I want to pull young people with so much energy and talents. I want to invest in them because they can change the world. That is what I want. I believe I can solve these problems,” he stressed.

Mr Obi also pledged to fight corruption and make the education sector work, saying he was “not going to complain about the past. You are hiring for the future, and I am going to be for the future.”

Earlier, CAN president, Daniel Okoh, said the interaction was to collectively review the understanding of the Nigerian crisis of development and governance and find a lasting solution.

Mr Okoh said CAN had consulted with Nigerians of diverse religious, ethnic and social identities on the problems of Nigeria.

(NAN)