Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has condemned the demolition of properties in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and other cities in the country.
In a statement on his X account on Thursday, Obi expressed worry over the mass destruction of properties across the country.
He urged the government to focus on alleviating economic hardships and implementing measures to lift people out of poverty.
He wrote: “It’s with complete despondency and unhappiness that I have followed the ongoing demolitions of properties across the country, especially knowing the extra hardship such acts have been heaping on hapless citizens who are already battling with multi-dimensional poverty.
“What a responsive government should be doing under the current harsh economic conditions in the country is to come up with measures aimed at alleviating the people’s hardships and to carry out measures that will take more people out of poverty.
“Even if there are some violations as the governments are claiming, this critical time is not auspicious for such an exercise knowing the hardship in the land and the consequences it will have on the poor who are struggling to make ends meet with their little resources.
“The poor in our midst who are putting their meagre resources are going through very severe financial stress that should not be multiplied further. In some cases, the properties being demolished are the lifetime savings and retirement abodes of the aged and incapacitated.
“My appeal therefore is for the respective governments involved in this act to consider the hardship in the country and try and put a human face to their actions. While we should enforce sensible regulations, all actions of government must show compassion. -PO”
This country is becoming a very dangerous place to live in and it is as well becoming very difficult for the Igbo to refer to themselves as Nigerians.
Thanks God Peter Obi did not win the presidencial elections, if he has won the elections, he would have gone on to be the most divisive president both ethnically and religiously. How else does one explain his statements on the demolition of illegal buildings/ structures in Lagos and Abuja and trying to be clever than half on the same thing going on in his home state and region by not mentioning that names of those states, if not ethnic bias.
Does he by this statement mean that people can just build anywhere and anyhow they like without getting the necessary legal permission from the relevant government agencies, even when those structures obstruct drainages, canals and go against the original master plan of the city and state?
So just because he’s kinsmen as always are alleging ethnic coloration to the demolition, PO has quickly joined the bandwagon with his kit and kin to mouth the same story by putting out this senseless statement.
The first thing any rational sentient let alone a rational leader would have done in this situation, is to find out if the government are justified in carrying out these demolitions, which in this case they are, before coming up to make a statement.