Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, shared a deeply unsettling experience from his visit to Shanahan College of Nursing Sciences, Nsukka, on February 2, 2025.
During his interaction with the institution’s management and students, Obi noticed an elderly woman desperately trying to speak to him. While people around attempted to dismiss her, he insisted on hearing her out.
The woman, a retired civil servant, revealed her heartbreaking ordeal. Despite dedicating her productive years to serving the nation, she had not received her pension for some time. To make matters worse, she had been hospitalized for over a week with mounting medical bills—and yet, her most immediate concern was that she did not have a single Naira to buy food.
Obi described feeling both anger and deep sorrow—anger at the political and institutional leadership that had failed its people and pity for the woman and countless others suffering in silence.
“This is the nation we live in—a nation that has lost its sense of humanity and compassion,” he lamented.
He reiterated his stance that any government withholding pensions and gratuities from senior citizens in their vulnerable years is heartless. As a former governor, Obi recalled inheriting and clearing over N30 billion in accumulated pensions and gratuities because he understood the suffering of retirees.
After offering the woman immediate assistance and vowing to follow up with the hospital management, Obi emphasized the broader issue: the countless others facing similar struggles with no one to advocate for them.
“We must fix this nation. Nigeria must work for all, and everyone must receive their due rewards for their contributions,” he concluded.
A New Nigeria is POssible. – PO
