Labor Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has advised Nigerians not to hand over the mandate to run a sick country like Nigeria to a sick man.

Obi said this on Thursday at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, following up on his national campaign ahead of the February 25 presidential election.

In an interactive session with the university’s Business School, Obi said: “This country is sick and should not be handed over to a sick person. I’m not saying anyone is sick. We have been here for more than two hours; we don’t want people who can’t stand for 30 minutes.”

He identified character and confidence as two cardinal attributes to consider in recruiting leaders to run the nation’s affairs for the next four years.

He added: “In the United States during elections, they go to the debates. Someone once asked Barack Obama personal questions and he answered. But here in Nigeria, someone wants to participate in the elections, we don’t know his real age, we don’t know his name; we do not know the schools he attended. No one knows his true identity and he is pushing to lead everyone.

“My name is Peter Obi. I can say that I went to Christ The King College and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Both the VC today and the DVC today were my schoolmates. We arrived at the university the same year and left the same year. The people I went to school with, I can see here today, my seniors and juniors. How come we now have people who don’t have classmates? This is very important.”

Obi also said he would end strikes at universities and other tertiary institutions, a situation he said has brought university education to a standstill in the country.

Lamenting the frequent strikes witnessed at Nigerian universities, Obi said that in his UNN days as a student, they never witnessed strikes.

Speaking at his campaign rally in Okpara Square, Obi vowed to make the Nigerian Police a people-oriented police force that will not harass people if elected.

The former governor of Anambra State said: “People say security is difficult, but we will make sure the police are your friend. The police will no longer harass you; the police will be your friend. We will recruit more security personnel and pay them well.”

His running mate Datti Ahmed described Obi as the best candidate to be president of Nigeria adding that all other candidates would only try to fool themselves.