Peter Obi believes he will be sworn-in as president even if it means waiting for up to three years

FORMER Anambra State governor Peter Obi has insisted that he will be sworn-in as the president of Nigeria as he believes that he won the last presidential elections but he may have to be patient to reclaim his mandate as has happened in the past.

On Saturday February 25, Nigerians went to the polls to elect a new president and the Independent National Election Commission (Inec) subsequently declared Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner. Among the other main gladiators in the contest were Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Obi of the Labour Party and former Kano State governor Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

Inec chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who served as the returning officer for the presidential election, declared Asiwaju Tinubu the victor of the contest with 8,794,726 votes, defeating Alhaji Abubakar of the PDP, who came second with 6,984,520 votes and Governor Obi who came third with 6,101,533 votes. On May 29, President-elect Tinubu is going to be sworn-in in line with the dictates of Nigeria's constitution but the PDP and the Labour Party are challenging the elections in court.

Speaking in Awka, the Anambra State capital yesterday  during the launch of a book written in his honour titled Peter Obi: Many Voices, One Perspective, the former aspirant said he is convinced in his spirit that he will be president. He reminded everyone that it took him three years to reclaim his mandate as the Anambra State governor as he had to go through a lengthy legal battle to secure victory.

Governor Obi said: “Anyone who thinks I’m on transit is wasting his time. Let me tell you, I must be the president of this country. I’m sure of that. If it is not today, it must be tomorrow. Other people who want to be, should come and tell us what they want to do and how to do it.

"This is my country, I don’t have dual citizenship. If anyone thinks I am going to run away from Nigeria, they are lying. I have three engagements in Anambra and Lagos today. I will be speaking in Lagos tonight. We will not leave Nigeria. I am not in a hurry to become the president but I know it must happen.

“For three years I was in court in Anambra to reclaim my governorship, just to challenge the process. Many people tried to discourage me but I said even if the entire four years tenure elapsed for us to prove a point and correct the process, I will be fulfilled.

“If you have the chance to do the right thing and you insist on perpetuating anarchy, then, it will consume everybody one day. I insist that we must do the right thing. I was in an event yesterday in Abuja, and it was World Food Organisation. I listened to a report that stated that Nigeria will face intense hunger in years to come.

“It is Nigeria that will face hunger, not Peter Obi. The report listed Borno, Adamawa and Yobe as the states that will be worse hit but those three states put together are five times larger in land mass than Israel, yet that country exports food but Nigeria cannot feed itself. So we must cultivate a habit of doing the right thing because if we don’t do the right thing, it will consume us some day.”

One of the editors of the book, Professor Chinyere Okunna, said: “We believe in Obi. He is not a saint but among all the people who contested to become president, none comes close to him in humility, education, love of the people, experience and knowledge.

“Litigation is a very capital-intensive project and we want to support him through this launching. It was very clear that Obi won the election but we want to call on the judiciary to be upright in their judgement and do the right thing.”