The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has slammed the federal government for pressing treason charges against peace #EndBadGovernance protesters.
Peter Obi said the federal government mismanaged the protest even after the citizens gave one month’s notice before the protest.
Speaking with News Central on Monday, on his opinion concerning the treason charge, the former governor of Anambra State said even when he was in office he never used police to arrest protesters.
He argued that it was wrong for the federal government to fail to sit and discuss with the peaceful hunger protesters but move ahead to arrest them with the police.
Obi said: “I’ve said everybody, they have right to protest. I said it before. I would discuss with every protester. They even warned government months before they did that. I would sit down and discuss with them.
People protested when I was governor. They even called strike. They shut down schools for months, our hospitals. I was talking with them.
I have never as a politician, as a governor ask any police to go and arrest anybody. It shouldn’t be. In a democracy, people have right to say no. I’ve said it every day. If I’m managing this facility and everybody loves me, I will resign. This is me.
Wherever I am, I believe that I have enemies. My job is to convince them. If everybody loves me, that is a problem.
There are people who hate me because I’m just Peter. They don’t even need to give me any reason. It is my job to convince them on why it should be.
I convinced the teachers why we should return schools to missionaries and they see the result.
You just have to. It’s a constant thing. Whenever you’re a leader, you’re a communicator. You listen, you talk to the people. The agitators, the protesters, how are they talking to them?”
