Obi, who said this while speaking at a lecture at Harvard Law School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, advocated for a parliamentary system of government in Nigeria, stressing that because the presidential system is not working well in the country, Nigeria has continued to have bad leaders who stay in office for four years without being accountable to the people.
A former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi has said that Nigerian presidents are fond of removing themselves from the people and hiring those he described as gangs of lunatics to speak for them.
Obi, who said this while speaking at a lecture at Harvard Law School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, advocated for a parliamentary system of government in Nigeria, stressing that because the presidential system is not working well in the country, Nigeria has continued to have bad leaders who stay in office for four years without being accountable to the people.
According to him, if it is a parliamentary government where the president is also a member of the parliament, he will be compelled to answer to the people during the president''s question and there could be a vote of no confidence on any president who is not performing well.
Obi said a president in Nigeria can decide not to talk to anybody for one year and nobody would care because he would have hired people to do the talking, and if anyone criticises the government, they call the person names.
The former Anambra governor said, "What happens is, because of the presidential system that has no president in Nigeria today, we have a bad leader and he stays there for four years. When we have a parliamentary system, we can move a motion of no confidence within two or three years.
Again, if we are in a parliamentary system, a president will be a member of parliament.
Today, if you elect me as president of Nigeria or governor, I can remove myself entirely from being answerable to the people, just hire a gang of lunatics, talking rubbish every day.
While, if it is a parliamentary system, during the president''s question time, he has to answer. He doesn''t have to hire anybody to speak for him.
A president in Nigeria can decide not to talk to anybody for one year and nobody cares because he has hired all these people who do the talking. If you say anything, they call you names, they do this.
So, we need a parliamentary system where the president will be a member of parliament and will at least, even if it is once a month, answer the people who elected him; because we didn''t elect all these gangsters. We elected somebody and we want the person to talk to us."
Meanwhile, Daniel Bwala, the former spokesperson for the presidential campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised Obi for the comment.
Bwala, a PDP chieftain who recently announced his support for President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), described Obis statement as gibberish, saying that he called public and private Nigerians gangsters and lunatics.
Bwala in a post on his X handle said there is no difference between Obi and his supporters, popularly known as Obidients, whom the PDP chieftain and lawyer described as e-rodents.
Listen to @PeterObi in his Harvard gibberish lecture calling public and private citizens gangsters and lunatics. Truly there is no difference between him and his e-rodents. Thank God Nigeria dodged a bullet
Bwala said, Listen to @PeterObi in his Harvard gibberish lecture calling public and private citizens gangsters and lunatics.
Truly there is no difference between him and his e-rodents. Thank God Nigeria dodged a bullet.
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