2023 Presidency: Abia’s Sam Ohuabunwa Flags Off Campaign

Abia-born businessman, Sam Ohuabunwa, has officially flagged off a political movement toward his bid to succeed President Muhamamdu Buhari in the 2023 presidential election.

The New Nigeria Group (NNG) was unveiled at a media parley organized by Ohuabunwa at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, on Wednesday.

Ohuabunwa, who is the president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and former member of Presidential Advisory Committee on Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), also used the occasion to officially declare his intention to run for president in 2023.

The pharmacist said NNG would be used as a platform to mobilize like-minded Nigerians to “install enlightened, visionary and committed leadership” in order to help the country attain global competitiveness.

Ohuabunwa said the country was in dire need of a leader that would bring justice, equity and fairness to the people, thereby guaranteeing that every region of the country is happy and contented.

According to him, Nigeria had suffered from “too many contradictions that have tended to divide us rather than unite us” adding that the nation had “become a country where many citizens die unnecessarily through violent and other preventable causes.”

He said despite the “best” efforts of the country’s security forces, insecurity has continued to worsen as the citizens no longer feel unsafe traveling by road, while terrorists, bandits and kidnappers have continued to have “free reign” in many parts of the country.

“That our Nation is chronically underperforming in many facets of human endeavor (especially in the economy and human development index) is not news to anyone. That our Country is not meeting the expectations of a great number of our citizens is not debatable. That our Country is breeding poverty and misery (with growing unemployment and underemployment) over many years is bewildering to many Nigerians and international observers,” he said.

Ohuabunwa, who hails from Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State, said he had served in advisory capacities in previous governments, but deemed it imperative to “step out and be in the fore front” to be able to implement strategies he had recommended but which were not implemented.

The presidential aspirant listed poverty, corruption, injustice and insecurity among areas that must be urgently addressed for the country to realize its potentials.

Ohuabunwa also expressed self-assurance that President Buhari would bequeath free and fair elections as his legacy at the end of his tenure in 2023.

“I am not trusting in Buhari to do the electoral reforms, I don’t put my trust in any human being, because remember the Bible said how miserable for anybody that trusts in the arm of flesh.

“What I have said is that from what I have seen in the last two elections, I am not talking about an electoral law or no electoral law.

“We don’t need any electoral law to conduct a free and fair elections, we don’t, it is for us to determine to have a free and fair election and this can happen in my favour and the favour of Nigeria.

“…I can read the President’s body language. He is interested. I predicted this in Benin (City) during the election that (Godwin) Obaseki’s election was going to be a part of the new Nigeria.

“I said so and it is on tape because I knew from what I saw there. The election was generally free and fair and it worked and Ondo was almost the same thing.

“I am seeing a trend and that trend will continue. Again, Nigerians have become wiser, because they have been in this business for too long, they have been collecting money and they end up where they started.

“They have been pushed to do what they don’t want to do, voted for people they don’t believe in because of pecuniary considerations or stomach infrastructure and after that, they are returned to penury.

“Nigerians are becoming enlightened and that is the job of the New Nigerian Group to get more Nigerians to understand that if we want to change the situation we must take our state in our hands vote the right candidate, protect the votes as they did in the two states of Edo and Ondo.

“I also believe the Electoral Act would be signed into law. What happened in 2018 is not the same, everybody that wants to leave office will like to leave a legacy.

“I trust that President Buhari will leave a legacy of bequeathing free and fair elections,” he said.