... Explains why Obidients're angry
The presidential candidate of Labout Party, LP, Peter Obi, said yesterday he would curb the flooding issue ravaging the country, if elected in 2023.
He also said his followers and proponents of the 'Obidient' movement were mostly Nigerians who were enraged over the sorry state of the nation and were, therefore, demanding change.
In an interview on Arise TV yesterday, Obi said the flooding problem could be solved by predicting the calculation of rainfall and dredging of major rivers to hold the water.
He said: "What will I do to curb this flooding? There's a combination of things that I need to do. There is the issue of Lagdo dam but even the minister said the rainfall caused the flooding and not the dam.
"But if you take the average rainfall in the past 20 years, since 2001, it remained the same, which means it is predictable.
"But the issue is that we have refused to dredge some rivers. We need to dredge the River Benue and Niger from Baro, Niger state down to the Atlantic Ocean.
"But there's currently no ability to hold this drainage, and tributaries are also part of what is causing this problem. The rivers are no longer contributing to our economic growth as they should be. These are the things we should do to be able to contain this."
Why Obidients're angry, need change
The Labour Party presidential candidate also said his followers and proponents of the 'Obidient' movement were mostly Nigerians enraged over the sorry state of the nation and, therefore, demanded change.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He said this explained the reason for the aggressive attitude of some of them on social media.
According to him, while some of the uncultured social media behaviour by the purported followers have come from opposing camps who often disguise as his followers to perpetrate indecency, some of the firm views expressed by his followers have come from a place of distress and deep hurt due to the deplorable state of affairs in the country.
Obi said: "I have answered this several times. One, there is infiltration by opponents, and there are those who believe in me who are angry. I've served people faithfully. I have never raised my voice at anybody.
"You cannot go and say because your son shouts at people, that is you. I'm telling them please, but some of them are angry. Some of them have been out of school for the past 10 years without jobs. You cannot control their anger. All I can do is an appeal."
On how he intended to deliver on his campaign promises, particularly given that all the other presidential candidates had made similar promises, Obi said historical antecedents of the presidential candidates should be key in determining who would fulfill his campaign promises.
He noted that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, had made several promises to Nigerians which were yet to be fulfilled.
