By Felix Khanoba
Former Governor of Anambra State and 2019 Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Peter Obi, has described the present level of insecurity in the country as worrisome, saying he now sleeps with one eye open.
Obi made this known while fielding questions from newsmen after he delivered the eight convocation lecture of the Catholic-owned Veritas University, Abuja on Saturday.
He said: “We are all in bad situation; anybody who tells you that people like me are doing well. No, because I live in fear. I live in fear every day and in everything. If I travel out of this place (Nigeria) I can sleep with my eyes closed.
“If you are a rich man in a poor community, you are poor because you can’t sleep even when you have N1 million bed, you will find out you cannot close your eyes because people around you have not eaten.”
The former two-term governor called for the repositioning of the nation’s economy to address the “totally unacceptable” security situation in the country.
“One of the greatest cures to insecurity is to get people employed and get them to be doing something. If you have 13.somethng million out-of school children and you have 22 million people in their productive age doing nothing, you will be insecure. Where will they go, if they don’t know where the next meal is coming from?” Obi queried.
On the clamour in some quarters for the sack of service chiefs, the 2019 running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said such move might not necessary remedy the present security challenges.
His words: “Let us deal with the economy whether you sack the service chief or not. No country of the world has all the money but how you use the little you have matter. I have been governor, we didn’t owe salary, pension or gratuity, I didn’t owe any contractor the day I left office. I have about N77billion in the (state’s) account.
“Let us shut down the cost of governance, why won’t Peter Obi move with three vehicles? Why won’t we shut down these irresponsible offices we have all over the place. Live a normal life. I say it everywhere, why will Governor of Anambra State has a lodge in Abuja? Is he the governor of Abuja? No. Why must he travel with 30 people from Anambra State? He can go alone.”
