{"id":68225,"date":"2025-06-16T12:22:56","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T12:22:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=68225"},"modified":"2025-06-16T12:22:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T12:22:56","slug":"prioritise-competence-not-tribe-in-choosing-leaders-obi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/06\/16\/prioritise-competence-not-tribe-in-choosing-leaders-obi\/","title":{"rendered":"Prioritise Competence, Not Tribe, in Choosing Leaders -Obi"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Onyeanya Ebere<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has urged Nigerians to move beyond ethnic and religious sentiments in selecting leaders, stressing the importance of competence, capacity, character, and compassion.<\/p>\n

In a statement posted Monday on X (formerly Twitter) titled “What Cannot Be Hidden in Leadership,” Obi said the results of leadership are always evident, whether in success or failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are critical areas of leadership that must exist for a nation to move forward; competence, capacity, character, and compassion. Without these, no magic can save us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Obi reiterated that the country has suffered due to leadership choices driven by tribe and religion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must stop voting based on tribal or religious lines and start choosing leaders with the right values,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He explained that competence is key to tackling complex national challenges, while capacity ensures the strength to lead effectively.<\/p>\n

Character, he said, fosters public trust, and compassion ensures that leaders treat human lives with dignity.<\/p>\n

Citing recent tragedies, Obi condemned the federal government\u2019s silence and absence during national disasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Niger State, flooding claimed nearly 200 lives, yet there was no presidential visit. In Benue, over 200 people, including children and soldiers, were massacred again, no show of empathy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He contrasted Nigeria\u2019s leadership response with global examples, noting that leaders in India and South Africa have shown up personally at disaster sites to mourn with victims and take responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is leadership with compassion,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we have normalised in Nigeria is leadership without empathy, accountability, or a human face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obi concluded that Nigeria doesn\u2019t just need another president but a true leader. \u201cUntil we elect leaders based on competence, capacity, character, and compassion, the cycle of pain will persist,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Onyeanya Ebere   Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has urged Nigerians to move beyond ethnic and religious sentiments in selecting leaders, stressing the importance of competence, capacity, character, and compassion. In a statement posted Monday on X (formerly Twitter) titled “What Cannot Be Hidden in Leadership,” Obi said the results of leadership […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":68230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68231,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68225\/revisions\/68231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}