Governance is serious business, not retirement fallback — Obi

The Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Mr Peter Obi, has explained that political leadership and the job of delivering good governance to the people remains a serious business for the young and active and not for the elderly.

Obi, who spoke at the recent Anambra PDP’s Reconciliation and Stakeholders Meeting at Awka, organised by Mr Valentine Ozigbo, stated that it is important to elect into public offices, those who are still young and burning with youthful energy. He said that good governance is very demanding and can easily overwhelm any leader who is elderly and weak.

Congratulating Ozigbo, who is Anambra PDP’s Gubernatorial Candidate, Obi said his emergence is simply the will of God. Obi explained that Ozigbo’s youthful energy and zeal will help him to accomplish a lot for the state, if he is elected into office.

“I am convinced that Ozigbo can do the job when elected. He is young and energetic with so many accomplishments to his name. Governorship is not a job for the senile, neither is it retirement business.

“I became a Governor at the age of 43 and I know the giant strides made under my administration in all sectors of Anambra State. As a governor, you wake up in the morning and you keep walking and working till night. It is not an easy job,” Obi said.

He reminded Ozigbo that his job as a public office holder, when elected into office, is to build a better society and not to make people happy. He maintained that public office holders and political leaders should always focus on investing in infrastructure, health, education, poverty alleviation, etc, and not be distracted by ‘trying to make everyone happy’.

Obi appealed to other gubernatorial aspirants on the platform of PDP to eschew animosity and join forces with the party to ensure PDP takes over the Agu Awka Government House in the coming elections. He also urged all PDP stakeholders in the state to rally support for the party at the grassroots level to ensure that the party is victorious at polls.

For his part, Ozigbo pledged to serve Anambra people well and promised to surpass the achievements of Peter Obi, if elected into office. He appealed to other gubernatorial candidates who took part in PDP’s primaries to draw closer to the party and join forces to enable PDP win the elections. He also appreciated their efforts, which he said, had helped form a solid base for the party in the State with respect to the coming elections.