FORMER Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has decried the level of insecurity in Nigeria, saying that the country is in a bad situation.
“We have to be innovative in politics. We have to get the right people who are prepared to save this country. We are in a bad situation. I am in a bad situation. Anybody who tells you that we are doing well is lying. I live in fear every day,” Obi said in Abuja on Saturday.
Obi who was also vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019 general elections, made this remark while speaking at the 8th Veritas University convocation held in Bwari, a suburb of Abuja.
He maintained that creation of job for the mass of unemployed Nigerian youths is one potent way to address the problem of insecurity in the country.
“The insecurity is totally unacceptable. One of the greatest cures for insecurity is to get people employed,” he noted.
The former governor also lamented the high cost of governance in the country, citing the large convoy of political office holders as one of those excesses.
According to him, it is irresponsible for political office holders to move in such large convoys.
Obi said during his time as Anambra State governor, he had used a convoy of 20 cars until he discovered that 13 of the cars were empty and carried no officials.
“You see big people going round with 15 or 20 vehicles and causing confusion all over the place and disturbing public peace and everybody with his own big title.
“If I was coming here with 20 policemen, to Nigerians, that shows I am ‘Your Excellency’. That is irresponsibility; it doesn’t happen anywhere in the world,” he stated.
He argued that there is no place in the world where one man moves around with 22 vehicles as convoy.
“There is no place in the world that I have seen where one man moves around with 22 vehicles. It is madness. I used it as a governor. You will not believe it. I used it as a governor until I asked to find out one day how many of the cars people were occupying, and about 13 of the cars were empty.”
Obi explained that what heavy convoy does is create difficulties for commuters and creates confusion for the people.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via labolade@icirnigeria.org, on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94