Ahead of the 2023 elections, groups in the Middle Belt under the aegis of Southern and Middle Belt Alliance (SAMBA) have thrown their weight behind the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi.
The Alliance is made up of trade unions, market leaders, students, religious and youth leaders in the Middle Belt region.
The endorsement is contained in a communiqué read by Rev. Aminchu Adamu at the Middle Belt Save Nigeria Conference’ held in Jos, Plateau State last Saturday.
A statement issued by the Peter Obi Support Group on Tuesday said the leader of the Middle Belt Community Leadership Delegates, Mr. Joshua Mape, led the endorsement of the LP presidential standard bearer.
Mape, according to the statement decried the economic hardship of the Middle Belt people as a result of bad governance and insecurity in the region.
He said Obi has what it takes to turn the economic fortunes of the country around just the way he did when he was the governor of Anambra State.
“Peter Obi is a wealth creator and we believe he will transform Nigeria by moving the country from a consumption economy to a productive economy and he will also reduce the cost of governance the way he did while he was the governor of Anambra State.
“Under his watch, Anambra was the least indebted state in the country. He returned all public schools to missionaries with N600 million take-off grant; Anambra also has the best road network under his administration.
“We support Peter Obi because we believe in justice and fairness,” he said.
Similarly, a representative of Youth and Students Alliance, Mr. Augustine Danladi, expressed dissatisfaction with inadequate funding of the country’s higher institutions of learning and the apparent indifference of the present government to the precarious situation.
He said with Obi as the president, the higher institutions will be better funded, and the nation’s education sector will be transformed.
“We know what he did when he was the governor of Anambra State. He took the state from number 24 to number one in WAEC results in the country. I am confident that if given the chance, he will do the same thing at the nation’s education sector”, Danladi said.
Also, the representative of market groups and traders in the Middle Belt also endorsed the LP presidential candidate saying they are sure of his capacity to industrialise the nation.
Religious groups in the middle belt represented by Adamu said they live in perpetual fear as they cannot go to their places of worship because of insecurity in the country.
Adamu submitted that the groups look forward to voting Obi as President of Nigeria in February 2023.
Responding, Obi is reported to have appreciated the groups for the confidence reposed in him by their endorsement.
Obi who spoke via a recorded video message said he had been listening to the deliberations from Germany where he had been as of the time of the meeting.
“I appreciate your sacrifice. I have been listening to your deliberations; I thank you most sincerely for your trust in me. I assure that I will bring development to Nigeria.
“Next year’s presidential election must not be based on tribe or religion, but on competence and character. I assure that we will build better Nigeria together,” he said.
