The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Party, Peter Obi, has officially kicked off his campaign ahead of the 2027 presidential election, challenging other candidates wishing to lead Nigeria in the 2027 election to come before the electorate, defend their records and answer questions about their capacity to govern the country.
Obi, who spoke at a press conference at his residence in Onitsha on Friday to mark the commencement of the 2027 presidential and National Assembly campaigns, said no presidential candidate should hide behind the high walls of power or rely on proxies and surrogates during the campaign.
He pointed out that Nigerians deserve to hear directly from those seeking their mandate and subject their records, credentials and policy proposals to public scrutiny. He insisted that no candidate should hide behind power, send proxies or surrogates to the hustings, and still expect Nigerians to entrust them with leadership, stressing that every candidate seeking the presidency must have the courage to come before the people, answer their questions, defend their records, and subject their vision to public scrutiny.
He argued that genuine leadership required physical presence and empathy, insisting that a presidential candidate could not effectively lead communities without understanding their circumstances, and that no one could lead from the front without standing with communities across Nigeria devastated by banditry, criminality, terrorism, and flooding. He said it was impossible to truly lead people one was unwilling to visit, listen to, and understand.
The former Anambra State governor, who is seeking the presidency alongside his running mate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, said he and his running mate would personally take their campaign to Nigerians across the country. He assured the people that he and his running mate were committed to listening to them, understanding their concerns and engaging them openly, adding that they would not delegate their duty to proxies.
Obi said the 2027 election presented Nigerians with an opportunity to assess the records, ideas and programmes of those seeking to lead the country amid what he described as grave economic and security challenges. He said his central conviction was that Nigeria can work, and Nigeria must work.
He identified poverty, food insecurity, internal displacement, unemployment, weak infrastructure, unreliable electricity, insecurity and the high cost of doing business as major challenges confronting the country. The presidential candidate, however, said the challenges were not beyond the capacity of Nigerians to overcome, arguing that the country possessed the people, resources, market, talent and enterprise required to build a prosperous economy.
He said a government under his leadership would shift Nigeria from a predominantly consumption-driven economy to one focused on production, investment, enterprise and human-capital development. He argued that Nigeria could not import its way to prosperity, stressing the need to produce more of what the country consumes, process more of what it produces, and compete more effectively in global markets.
He said he would prioritise agriculture, manufacturing, technology, construction, energy, creative industries and services, while creating an environment in which businesses could invest, employ workers and expand without unnecessary regulatory and infrastructure constraints. He pledged to strengthen agriculture through improved security, irrigation, rural roads, storage facilities, access to finance and markets, while promoting manufacturing and agro-processing.
On public finances, Obi said every naira spent by government should have a clear purpose and that major public investments should produce measurable outcomes.
Obi also identified insecurity as a major obstacle to economic development, saying no country could prosper when its citizens could not farm, travel, trade or conduct business safely. He advocated improved intelligence gathering and coordination among security agencies, stronger policing and border management, greater use of technology and lawful community-based systems for early identification of threats.
He said his administration would improve basic education, strengthen universities, and expand technical and vocational training. He also pledged to improve maternal and child health, expand access to essential medicines and equip healthcare workers to serve effectively, noting that Nigeria’s poor health indicators remained a major impediment to human-capital development and economic productivity.
Obi said his administration would pursue a development strategy that would enable every region of the country to exploit its comparative advantages while contributing to a productive national economy. He said the North-West could expand agriculture, livestock, irrigation, agro-processing and manufacturing, while the North-East could accelerate reconstruction and expand agriculture, education and enterprise.
He said the North-Central could strengthen food production and processing while responsibly developing its mineral resources, while manufacturing, technology, finance, trade and the creative economy represented areas of strength for the South-West. He added that the South-East could build on its entrepreneurial and industrial base through better infrastructure, connectivity and access to investment, while the South-South held potential in oil and gas, maritime services, fisheries and agriculture, alongside stronger environmental protection. He stressed that every region must produce, contribute and benefit.
Obi urged voters to examine the records and proposals of candidates, ask difficult questions and demand evidence for campaign promises. He also called for issue-based campaigns devoid of hatred and violence, saying the outcome of the election should be respected by all sides.
He said his campaign would focus on the urgent concerns of Nigerians rather than ethnicity or religion, urging Nigerians to reject and disregard any campaign driven by propaganda, ethnicity, religion, elitism, or cronyism. He said his ultimate objective was to unite the country, defeat insecurity, reduce poverty and hunger, tackle the problem of out-of-school children, improve education and healthcare, and create an economy that works for all Nigerians.
He declared that the campaign would mark the beginning of a journey to reset Nigeria by uniting the country, securing it and placing it on the path of inclusive economic growth, insisting that a new Nigeria is possible.
