The presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi has broken his silence on his photograph with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during their visit to the Vatican, Rome for the inauguration of Pope Leo, saying “we went for a church service and I’m not fighting the President.”

While describing education as “the most critical investment”, he avoided questions on the reports that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is offering him the vice presidential slot in the 2027 general election.

Obi stated these in an interview with Arise News in Abuja after donating N20 million to Saint Andrews Anglican Church, Kubwa Diocese, for the ongoing projects in its school and Hospital, in reaction to the videos showing him and Tinubu in Vatican, Rome for the inauguration of the Catholic Pontiff.

At the event, the Anglican Bishop of Kubwa Diocese, Bishop Duke Akanmisoko, thanked Obi for the good gesture and asked other kind individuals to emulate him.

Obi said, “Myself and the President are not fighting. We went for a church service in Rome. My fight is against bad governance, against hunger, against poverty, against out-of-school children, and against people not having access to health services.

“This country has less than 10 percent health insurance for citizens. It should be 100 percent. These teachers teaching here should be paid by government because in Universal Basic Education, the law says our children should go to school free. What my Lord is doing is helping government, government should help them.

“I’m in coalition against hunger, a coalition against poverty, a coalition against ill-health. Politics, for me, is not about position. It is about doing the right thing. Whatever you make of it (the report about 2027 VP slot), I can tell you that, I Peter (Obi), have told you where I stand. I just came back (from Rome) this morning, I didn’t talk about politics. I’m talking about the education of these children. I’m not talking about positions.

“In this country, we are not talking about what we should be talking about. What we should be taking about is how we are going to educate our children.”

Obi also explained why the government should take investment in education as its priority.

He said, “To me, education is the most critical investment you can do because the more educated you are, the more developed you become. It shouldn’t be a problem. We are ready to invest and partner with those in the sector to achieve results.

“Like what my Lord is doing here, his children are not here, he’s doing it for the society, what they need is government support. This is public education, we need to come out and support them. That is why we are going round schools, and going round hospitals. These are critical areas: healthcare, education and pulling people out of poverty.

“The more corrupt a country is anywhere in the world, the more you have poverty because it affects investments in education, it affects investments in health. It affects investments in pulling people out of poverty and that is the reason why we must tackle it so that we can use the resources in critical areas.”

Friday Olokor

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