Stop Celebrating Criminals, Looters, Peter Obi Tells Nigerians

Former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has asked Nigerians to stop celebrating criminals in the society and praising looters who should be in jail.

The former Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made this known on Thursday during his appearance on Channels Television’s special end of the year programme.

Obi also blamed Nigerians for giving criminals and looters awards and titles which he said encourages them to continue to loot and wreck the nation.

The former governor noted that the actions of the politicians affect Nigerians directly and they must be committed that the right people are voted into office.

He, however, asked Nigerians to practice genuine and true democracy which will bring the nation out of poverty and put it on the path of development and success.

He said, “I still blame the people who watch the sharing (of loots) go on and celebrate criminality. The people continue to praise those who steal money; they give them awards and titles.”

“We need to practice genuine democracy. It is not just the political class, but the people as well. People need to be part of this change.

“People are complacent. The people think you can leave it in the hands of the politicians; they have to demand that the right things happen.”

Obi opined that there were incompetent people who lacked the necessary capacity elected into political offices, saying that the present situation in the country made it so.

He stressed that the way to address the issue was to ensure Nigerians do the right thing and vote competent people into political offices.

The former governor agreed with the Financial Times report that Nigerians is a failed state due to the rise in insecurity in the country, high drug prevalence, and an increase in mortality rate in the country.

“We have become the highest in drug prevalence. We have overtaken India in under-five mortality. So, it affects people.

He added, “Our country is not productive, that is why our economy is not growing. While other nations are working hard to pull themselves out of poverty, ours are going the other way round. Everybody is looking for what to grab out of the system.” he said.