Peter Obi pledges to spend presidential holidays in Nigeria if elected

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, has pledged not to spend his holidays outside Nigeria if elected president in the 2027 general elections. Obi made the promise in an Independence Day address delivered in Abuja on Thursday. He said he would use a four-year tenure to travel across the country, meet citizens and gain a direct understanding of their problems.

He named Zamfara, Borno, Kwara, Ebonyi, Edo and Ekiti among the states he would visit during holidays. “I want to continue to see Nigeria. I want to know Nigeria.

I want to spend time with Nigerians, listen to them, understand their challenges and celebrate their resilience,” he said. Obi also promised that his administration would make governance measurable and accountable, with an emphasis on the welfare and productivity of Nigerians. He said citizens would begin seeing the effect of what he described as purposeful leadership within the first year.

On security, the former Anambra governor said farmers should be able to return to their farms, children should return to school and businesses should operate without fear. He said no Nigerian should be forced to live in an internally displaced persons camp because the government had failed to provide security. Obi criticised the APC-led administration, saying Nigeria continued to face poverty, a large out-of-school population, terrorism, banditry and kidnapping despite promises made in 2023.

He argued that the central problem was not a lack of resources, but failure by successive governments to turn resources into human development, productivity, security and shared prosperity. He referred to a recent visit to Sokoto State with his running mate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, including a visit to an IDP camp in Ramin Kura. Obi said the conditions there reflected hardship experienced in other parts of the country and argued that political leadership needed to change.