As campaigning was about to begin last month, Nigeria was rocked by three polls showing PeterObi was well ahead. kcsalmon meets him
case of Goliath and David,” says Peter Obi, a long-shot candidate who has unexpectedly taken the lead in the race to become president of Africa’s most populous country and its biggest economy. “The big people are there, but allow this small person to do it. And I know I can do it.”
There are, of course, no guarantees that Mr Obi would break the kleptocracy that is throttling Nigeria: the country’s political system has a habit of corrupting even those who start out with the best of intentions. But if he were to sustain his lead until the election in February, he would be the first politician in decades to show that a new sort of politics is possible in Nigeria.
When asked what distinguishes him most from the other two major candidates Mr Obi replies: “Who can people trust?” He promises to deliver and not to steal. Yet he too has faced some questions over his financial affairs. The Pandora Papers, a large set of leaks to the press of records from financial companies, revealed that Mr Obi owned an undeclared offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven.
To restore order Mr Obi promises to expand the security forces and equip them better. Structurally he proposes giving states and local governments the power to have their own police officers, rather than rely solely on federal forces. He is also willing to talk to armed groups that have political demands such as the Indigenous People of Biafra,When it comes to the economy, his instincts appear liberal. “There is a lot of government involved where the private sector should be,” he says.
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