Not less than 27 states in the country have been affected by the climate disaster, with over 600 lives lost, more injured and properties lost. Many fear that the aftermath of the floods would include spread of diseases such as cholera. The candidates for president in the 2023 elections have also weighed in one way or the other on the issue.
It is currently an all-hands-on-deck situation as the race to prevent a humanitarian breakdown is on high gear. Here are how your frontrunner presidential candidates have weighed in on the ongoing climate disaster.
Peter Obi suspends election campaigns
The Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi appears to be the most active on this issue. On Wednesday, Peter Obi suspended campaigns in solidarity with the victims of the flood and called on other candidates to follow suit and has since then embarked on a tour of affected community with a major pitstop in Benue State where he oversaw distribution of relief materials and also donated 5M naira to the victims
Atiku Abubakar in solidarity with states ravaged by floods
The PDP presidential flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar released a statement early in October sympathizing with states ravaged by the floods such as Jigawa, Kogi, Benue, Adamawa, Kebbi, Taraba, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Niger and Ebonyi. It is unclear whether Atiku has physically reached out to any of the states.
Bola Tinubu sympathises with the affected states
Like his PDP counterpart, Bola Tinubu of the APC has previously expressed solidarity with the states impacted by the floods on his return to Nigeria from his medical visit to London. The former governor of Lagos State stated that he had been following the sad news of flooding while abroad and urged the governor of states affected by the floods to be strong and face the challenge.
Whilst Peter Obi appears ahead of the rest in view of his personal outreach to affected communities and his gesture of suspending his campaigns to focus on the floods, should the presidential candidates do more for the country and the victims of the floods? Or have they actually done more outside the glare of the media?
