Peter Obi, the candidate for the Labour Party (LP), never provided a comprehensive explanation of how to address Nigeria's electricity problems, according to former presidential advisor Reno Omokri.
This was revealed by Omokri on Sunday in a post on his official Instagram page. He claimed that Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, did not avoid the topic or generalise when it was posed to him in an interview.
He said, “Day 6 of #WhyShouldIVoteAtiku: When Waziri Atiku was asked by the Arise TV crew on July 22, 2022, how he intended to solve Nigeria’s power challenge, he did not dodge the question, or generalise. He gave a very detailed answer, which if implemented, will solve Nigeria’s power issues.
He said “When you decentralise generation, in my zone like the northeast, we have two mini dams idling. If you go to be North-west, they also have many large dams idling already. You need to install turbines and then generate electricity. If you go to the South-south, then you can use whatever form of energy that is available, whether it is gas, hydro, or even coal. After all, the entire eastern region was supplied by coal from Enugu at that time.
“No other Presidential candidate has given such a detailed-and effective answer to the question of Nigeria’s greatest challenge-access to electric power. Three days after Atiku’s interview, Peter Obi was interviewed on Channels TV by Sun Okinbaloye, and he was asked the same question. Rather than answer the question, Mr Obi directed the interviewer to read what Singapore and Dubai’s leaders had written on the issue.
“His exact words were “first and foremost let me start by referring you to go and read both what the Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore said and the ruler of Dubai. The ruler of Dubai, their own being recent, he said what he does is to learn from other countries what they are doing right and bring it back to Dubai and do it right. So for me, I go to where people have done the right thing to learn. Egypt, Vietnam, and India have deployed the fastest electricity program in the past five years. That interview is still on Channels TV’s YouTube channel.
“It is clear that while Waziri Atiku has a plan, Peter Obi is still learning and has yet to come up with a plan, and that if and When he does come up with a plan, it will not be homegrown plan, but a foreign model, which is not designed for Nigeria’s peculiar challenges, and may or may designed for Nigeria’s peculiar challenges, and may or may not work for us.”