A group of Nigerians with a vision to deepen democracy in the country has endorsed the presidential flag bearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi as the candidate to support in next year’s general elections.

The group under the umbrella of the Nigeria Anew Movement (NAMO) announced the endorsement of Obi at a press conference in Lagos recently said going by his antecedents the former Anambra State governor is the best presidential candidate that has the integrity to fight corruption and grow the Nigerian economy.

Its National President, Alhaji Umar Sanda Adamu said his group reviewed the antecedents of the frontline candidates in the election and believes the Labour Party (LP) flag bearer will make a difference if he is given a chance to govern the country.

He said the country is not doing well in all indices of development because past leaders could not harness her potential for the benefit of Nigerians and the Nigerian economy. He added that at this juncture Nigeria needs a unifier, a leader with the capacity and strength of character to guide the people.

Adamu said: “We require a leader who is untainted by endemic corruption; we need a clear thinker, a pragmatist and above all a bridge between the north and the south, between the young and the old generation. We need a leader bristling with ideas and a workable plan to fix our broken country. Nigeria is in dire need of a detribalised leader who will heal the wounds of the past, reinforce our diversity and deliver an all-inclusive leadership in which no section of this great country feels hard done and left behind.”

As the seventh most populous country in the world with over 20O million people, the NAMO president said Nigeria’s potential and the promise it holds for shared prosperity is real and cannot be over-emphasised.

Unfortunately, however, he said successive administrations have been unable to transform the country’s potential into real gains for the overall well-being of the people. Citing recent reports from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and the World Bank, which focused on the future of Nigeria, her poverty and inequality levels, Adamu said several Nigerians were already languishing in poverty because of the inability of past leaders to harness the full potential of Nigeria.

He added: “The hardship unleashed on our society by this economic downturn is further worsened by the deterioration of security across the six geo-political zones, particularly in the Northeast, the North-Central, the Northwest and the Southeast zones. No day passes without cases of kidnapping, murder, banditry, robbery and wanton killings. The severity of these security challenges was captured recently by the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Major General Babagana Mungono (rtd).”

Adamu quoted Mungono in the National Security Strategy 2019 document released by his office as saying: “Security is the cornerstone of development and progress in a free society and that security is a guarantee of the wellbeing of citizens and stability of the state. It is also evident that the nature of insecurity facing Nigeria today is more complex than in the past.”

The NAMO president said many Nigerians expected President Muhammadu Buhari at the inception of his administration in 2015 to contain the country’s security challenges. But, unfortunately, he added, the administration’s efforts fell short of expectations and today the average citizen has been forced to live in constant fear.

He added: “Government’s efforts to stamp out corruption has not yielded the desired results and continue to fuel the state of insecurity in our country. Corruption is responsible for our country’s widespread unemployment, poverty and instability.

“After thorough scrutiny of the record of leading political candidates and bearing in mind the significance of this moment, and what it holds for our dear country, we are strongly persuaded that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party is the most suitable candidate to assume the presidency of this great country next year.

“The time for us to reject ethnic politics is now. We need a clean break from the present system that has not worked for most of our people. We need a leader with the experience and the determination to change the present faulty system. And we believe that Obi is the best candidate for the job.”