By Kamsi Anayo
Mr Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) on Saturday visited the Ogbo-Ogwu Bridge Head Market, Onitsha, Anambra state recently destroyed by fire.
The scene could be mistaken for a campaign rally at the major chemical market in Onitsha when Obi, visited the site of the recent market on Nov. 10.
Obi accompanied by Valentine Ozigbo, the 2021 governorship candidate of the state commiserated with the traders as he inspected the extent of the damage.
Obi who was given a hero’s reception by traders who spontaneously converged at the scene justling for a glimpse of their former governor.
It would be recalled that a massive fire destroyed 80 shops in the Ogbo Ogwu International Market, Bridge Head.
The fire also affected traders from Tools and Allied union, ATDA union and PS union, on Tuesday afternoon following a blast at the Science and Lab Line of Ogbo Ogwu Market.
There are no official casualty figures at the time of Obi’s visit.
“I understand your pain. I am a trader like you,” Obi told the traders.
“I know how you feel. The passion you put into your business and then to have a fire come in and destroy what you have built for months in a few hours.”
“If I win the election, we will re-organise the public and social services to make public spaces more secure. Emergency services and first responders like the fire service will be reorganised, retrained, and retooled to meet the demands of a 21st-century world and Nigeria’s population.Help is on the way,”.
Backed by a youth movement called the Obidients, Obi, 62, a multiple-award-winning business leader and celebrated former governor of Anambra state, has taken Nigerians by surprise in his phenomenal rise in the presidential race.
Four national polls have placed Obi ahead of his main rivals Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.