Laolu Akande Faults Obi, Other Candidates Over Missing Manifestos

Laolu Akande, a former media aide to ex-Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has accused Peter Obi and other opposition candidates of not being keen on presenting their manifestos to Nigerians.

Speaking on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Akande faulted Obi for yet to unveil his manifesto, barely two months before the presidential election.

Akande also said Nigerians should not expect any political figure to come and save them. According to him, change must start from the communities, with people in their wards and local governments coming out to decide who governs them.

“We are not going to have a political figure who will come and save us, no. Making things right must start from the communities, with people coming out from their wards to their local governments to say, ‘We want to determine who will govern us,’” he said.

He added that Nigerians cannot wait for the system to fix itself, because the people who control the institutions are comfortable with how things are.

“It is the people who come out during the election who will ensure that their votes count. When they come out in sufficient numbers, even the worst politician is going to win straight. We need to have a system where the people organize themselves and come out to vote,” he said.

Returning to the issue of manifestos, Akande said: “Our politicians are not very keen on manifestos, and you would expect that one of the things the NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi, should put forward is his manifesto. But until now, we don’t know anything about his manifesto.”