Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has pledged to fulfil his anti-corruption promise if elected president in the 2027 general election.
Obi spoke in an interview with the BBC African Service published on Tuesday, where he also discussed the opposition coalition, fuel subsidy and his plans for tackling corruption.
The former Anambra State governor said former President Muhammadu Buhari failed to deliver on his anti-corruption promise because, in his view, he was not fully in control of his administration.
“He was not in charge. The difference is this: I will be in charge,” Obi said.
He said his administration’s approach to corruption would begin with the conduct of the president and those closest to him.
“If you are not stealing, if you are not involved, your wife and family are not involved, you reduce it by 50 percent,” he said.
On the opposition coalition ahead of the 2027 election, Obi rejected calls for opposition candidates to withdraw from the race in favour of a single presidential candidate.
Instead, he said the focus should be on expanding voter participation.
“In the last elections, Sokoto had over 2 million registered voters. Opposition should be talking about how do we get additional 25 million people to come in and vote. We don’t need to step down,” he said.
Obi also maintained his position on the removal of petrol subsidy, saying his criticism had always centred on the corruption he believes was embedded in the system.
“I have not changed on fuel subsidy. What has changed is that whenever I talk about methodology, people say, ‘Oh, he has changed.’ From day one that I talked about subsidy, I talked about corruption. Corruption is the problem of subsidy,” he said.
Asked whether he would restore the subsidy if elected, Obi said he would, but only after addressing what he described as the corruption surrounding it.
“Yes, but not with the corruption associated with it. That’s why I said I will remove the corruption and retain the subsidy,” he said.
