There has been a rise in the number of Nigerians leaving the country in droves in search of greener pastures.

The phenomenon is popularly known as ‘Japa,’ a Yoruba slang that simply means to flee from a problem or trouble.

On June 15 reported that the House of Representatives unanimously voted against a motion seeking to make the Federal Government address the issues causing Nigerian professionals to migrate to other countries en masse.

But corroborating Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist, Bill Gates, on Thursday, the former Anambra State governor said the japa syndrome is healthy for Nigeria.

Gates had on Wednesday during an interactive session with innovators on ‘Advancing Africa: Unleashing the Power of Youth in Science and Innovation’ in Lagos State, said the japa syndrome was good and healthy for Nigeria.

“In a sense, people leaving is a good thing; if you up the amount of training you’re doing. So you say, Okay, some of our doctors can go get a very high salary in the UK, the US; some of them will pay to their families broadly; and some of them will return.

“So having a big diaspora that includes people coming back into business, into government—that’s a very healthy thing. There are some cases, like medical education, that were subsidised by the government, you almost wish that a little bit of that resource you get overseas would help the government increase training; because otherwise and we see today a significant shortage in some of those skills,’’ Gates said.

He added, “But I’m not someone who believes that no one should go away or that blocking that completely is a healthy thing.’’

But certainly India and China and I’ll say Nigeria is third on this list, this idea that people go away and do great work but then they come back, if you get that balance and figure out the education funding piece of that, that is a super healthy thing in computer science, in health, in business and other areas.’’

Obi, who shared Gates’ optimism, said “our brain drain today will be our brain gain tomorrow”.

In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle on Thursday, Obi wrote, “I read and agree with Bill Gates’s recent comment on the “japa” syndrome, where, according to reports, he stated that the recent surge of Nigerian professionals leaving the country for greener pastures is good and healthy for our country.

“I have always preached and maintained this same position on the “japa wave”. For years now, and throughout my campaign in the last Presidential election, especially during my tours from Canada, the USA, Germany, the UK, and other countries, I maintained that “Our brain drain today will be our brain gain tomorrow.”

“Nigerians leaving the country may look like a loss today, but when we start doing the right things and taking the governance of our nation more seriously, the knowledge and resources from them will be critical in the building of the New Nigeria, as it happened in China, India, Ireland and other developing countries.

Today, India prides itself as one of the countries with the biggest tech talents in the world, having produced some of the world’s top engineers and computer scientists. Many top global tech companies are headed by CEOs of Indian origin.

“So India’s success in the tech industry can partly be attributed to its ability to harness the knowledge and resources of Indians in the diaspora for their national growth.

“Nigeria will grow and develop on all fronts when we build the New Nigeria that prioritises investment in education, health, and support for small businesses, guarantees respect for the rule of law, security of lives and properties, and unity of the nation.

“Then our diasporan Nigerians around the world will return home with their global training, skills and resources, to immeasurably contribute to building a New and better Nigeria. We will not give up on our dreams for the New Nigeria.”

The LP and Obi in a petition marked CA/PEC/03/2023 are challenging the outcome of the presidential election wherein Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress was declared the elected president by INEC.

During the proceedings, the petitioners had previously stated that the electoral commission had denied them access to some sensitive documents which are germane to their pleadings.

While moving the motion for adjournment of the hearing on Wednesday afternoon, counsel for the petitioners, Livy Uzoukwu SAN again complained to the Presidential Election Petition Court that despite the effort made to access documents under the commission, INEC has “consistently refused…the subpoena to produce documents.”

He further said that he had to draw the attention of the lead counsel for INEC, A.B Mahmoud who assured him that the commission would comply.

Displeased with the statement that implied that his client was uncooperative, counsel for INEC, Kemi Pinhero SAN who conducted Wednesday’s proceedings on behalf of the electoral body countered the assertion.

He accused the petitioners of constantly blaming them for withholding documents from them and urged them to desist from the “habit”.

He said, “Don’t use INEC as a whipping boy.”

He said he was unaware of any discussion Uzoukwu SAN may have had with their lead counsel, Mahmoud, to warrant the statement

“It has become a habit for them to look for somebody to whip. I am not privy to any discussion he has had with A.B. Mahmoud.”

“It can’t be true that the receipt or the subpoena were refused.”

“It has become a habit for them to blame INEC or say that INEC has refused to release documents to them.

“It is not correct that the office of the chairman will refuse to respond to the subpoena. The chairman of INEC has no interest whatsoever. It is unfair to INEC.”

“If they have nothing else to do today, they should just say it.”

In response to the reaction, Uzoukwu maintained his stance and informed the court that his claims can easily be verified.

Following the argument between the two parties, the Presidential Election Petition Court headed by Justice Haruna Tsammani advised them to calm their frayed nerves.

The court thereafter adjourned the matter to June 15 for continuation of the hearing.

The minister made this statement on Wednesday in London in response to Elder Statesman and Pan Niger Delta Forum leader Chief Edwin Clark’s demand that he be detained and charged with disseminating “fake news” against Obi.

Mohammed insisted that his counsel to Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, was never founded on untruth and that he stuck by it.

“What will be my offence? Is it by chiding vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party who said on live television that if the President-elect Bola Tinubu is sworn-in on May 29 that that would be the end of democracy in Nigeria?

“Is it for chiding him for saying that swearing in Tinubu on May 29 is like swearing in the military?

“What is the fake news in that?” the minister queried.

He said Baba-Ahmed had never denied his statement made on the live television

The LP PCCC, in a statement by Diran Onifade, the Head of the Obi-Datti media team, said Obi was detained for questioning on Good Friday, April 7, 2023, when he arrived at Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria.

The statement added that he was later let go after Nigerians, who witnessed the incident, raised an uproar.

The statement read in part, “The LP Presidential candidate in the February 25 Presidential poll arrived the Heathrow Airport in London from Nigeria on Good Friday, April 7, 2023, and joined the queue for the necessary Airport protocols when he was accosted by immigration officials who handed him a detention note and told him to step aside. He was questioned for a long time and it was very strange for a man who lived for over a decade in that country.

Since Obi’s face was already an international frame, especially for Nigerians, Africans home, and in the Diaspora who are likely to be Obidients, the people quickly raised their voices wondering why he was being delayed.

The immigration officials who were also taken aback at the reaction of the people were forced to reveal that Obi was being questioned for a duplication offense, meaning that someone has been impersonating him in London.

“The high implication of the offense is that the impersonator could be committing all kinds of weighty crimes and other dubious acts and it would be recorded in Obi’s name.”

Addressing the media on Monday in London, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said Obi should clarify what he meant by saying the leaked conversation was “a fake doctored audio call.”

“I need to draw the attention of Nigerians to the recent leaked audio of conversation between the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, and the cleric.

“The leaked audio rattled Nigerians because we heard Obi pleading with the cleric to interfere on his behalf to convince Christians that this is a religious war and they should support him,” he said.

The minister said that in the aftermath of the leaked audio, Obi came out to say that it was “a fake, doctored audio call.”

The minister said, “If it is fake, it means it never took place. But if it is doctored, it means there was that conversation but it was manipulated.

“Obi needs to come out and make the clarification on whether the conversation did not take place or it took place, but it was doctored.

If it was doctored, which part of it was doctored?

“Is it the beginning, the middle or the end or is it the ‘Yes Daddy’ part of it, or where he said it was a religious war?”

Mohammed said the leaked audio had corroborated the position that Obi’s electioneering campaign was based on religion and ethnicity.

Labour Party, Peter Obi, Bishop David Oyedepo, Lai Muhammed,

Many otherwise respected commentators are not left behind on the effect of this divisive politics,” he said.

The audio clip as released by an online newspaper was an alleged conversation between Obi and the founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo.

Speaking on his mission to London, the minister said it was to defend the legitimacy of the just concluded general elections and to correct the imbalance in the skewed narrative which had pervaded the air on the polls.

He said, like what he did recently in Washington, he would let the world know that the 2023 election was the freest in Nigeria’s history.

NAN reports that the minister is scheduled to hold conversations and meetings with international media organisations and relevant think tanks based in London

The audio allegedly had Obi telling Oyedepo that the presidential election was a religious war and that the clergyman should help him beg people in the South-West and Kwara State, especially Christians, to support his ambition.

Reacting, Obi, in a statement he personally signed on Wednesday, said at no point in his “issue-based campaign” did he ever refer to the election as a religious war.

He also lamented alleged attempts by the ruling All Progressives Congress to divert “attention from our blatantly stolen mandate.”

He said, “These have come and continued to manifest in different ways, such as the malicious accusation of the Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed, the circulation of a fake doctored audio call, and pressure on me to leave the country.

“Let me reiterate that the audio call being circulated is fake, and at no time throughout the campaign and now did I ever say, think, or even imply that the 2023 election is, or was a religious war.”

The former governor of Anambra State said his legal team had been instructed to take appropriate legal actions against the online media platform that published the leaked audio.

While we call on all concerned Nigerians and the international community to implore the APC and the APC-led government to stop their nasty attacks, my focus and commitment to lawfully and peacefully retrieve our mandate to secure and unite our nation, take Nigeria from consumption to production, pull millions of Nigerians out of multidimensional poverty, especially in the north, and jump-start prosperity through agricultural, industrial, and technological revolution remain unchanged,” Obi added.

Obi expressed his confidence in the judiciary during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday morning.

The LP candidate said he had no reason to doubt the court, stating that Nigeria has one of the finest judiciary in the world, however, saying that politicians are the people trying to corrupt the judiciary.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had come under fire for its failure to upload the results of the presidential election from all polling units across the federation to its Results Viewing Portal (IREV) on Election Day.

Ignoring the protestation of the opposition parties, INEC in the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, 2023, declared Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, the President-elect and winner of the election. Tinubu polled about 8.8 million votes ahead of his rivals in the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, who polled 6.9 million votes and Obi himself, who polled 6.1 million votes.

Dissatisfied with the election results and declaration, the Labour Party approached the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to grant it permission to inspect the election materials used by the commission during the February 25 polls, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, which was the major technology deployed during the polls to enhance a free and free process.

The chairman of the electoral body, Mahmood Yakubu, while receiving lawyers from the Labour Party on Monday assured them that the commission had nothing to hide and pledged to provide all documents requested to aid the ongoing suit.

When asked however, if his trust in the electoral body had been rekindled with the pledge of the INEC chairman, Obi said, “They are now dealing with the lawyers. I don’t go to INEC, I’m not part of it. Well, I believe the lawyers are satisfied and if they are, it is no longer about me trusting INEC, there’s now something between the two of us. So, if our lawyers trust them, I’m fine with that.”

Expressing confidence in the judiciary, Obi said, “I am confident in the judiciary. I am because I have stayed in court for three years when people said it was impossible for you to become a governor through the court and I became the first (to reclaim a stolen mandate). Remember I was impeached and again the court brought me back. And I went for interpretation where I said, ‘My tenure is not complete’. People said it’s impossible because somebody else had been elected but I changed it.

“So, having gone through courts, several of them, I have not had any cause to doubt the court.

“I believe Nigeria has one of the best judiciary globally, but it is we, the politicians, because of our transactional nature, that are trying to ensure that everywhere is corrupted. That I wish can start reversing, even with this case. They are seeing globally what is happening, Africans are surprised that the giant of Africa can no longer deliver. Even Ghana will soon have elections and they will do all without the BVAS and it will go smoothly.

“I don’t go anywhere referring to how others were treated. Irrespective of their judgements recently, I have confidence that they know the country is collapsing, they know they have to help to build a better place for their children.”

Obi said this during his appearance on Arise TV Monday morning.

He said: “I have no issues with Tinubu. He is somebody I have so much respect for as a brother and regard as a father.

“I am only challenging the process through which INEC declared him as the President-elect. I have no issues with his declaration as the President-elect.”

Obi appealed the electoral body to rise up to the responsibility of helping Nigeria build a viable global image.

“We are committed to a new Nigeria. We must do everything that is right.

“We need to build strong democratic institutions that will teach people what their job requires and what government is all about,” he said.

Obi disclosed this during his first media appearance as a press conference in Abuja on Thursday following the election umpire’s proclamation of a winner.

“We will explore all legal and peaceful option to reclaim our mandate. We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians.

“I am challenging the process, This is very unfair. It is the least expected of Nigeria,” he said.

A new Nigeria is possible, and I will work for that new Nigeria… Datti and I remain committed to that new Nigeria.

Just at the commencement of the briefing, Obi observed a one-minute silence for all injured and deceased victims of the February 25 poll.

Also in attendance at the briefing is the party’s National Chairman, Julius Abure; as well as the director general of Obi’s presidential campaign, Akin Osuntokun.

He also said himself and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed remain committed to a new Nigeria.

He effusively thanked his youthful followers known as ‘Obidients’, urging them not to be deterred by the outcome of the polls.

“We will work for that new Nigeria that is possible,” he said. “Datti and I remain committed to that new Nigeria.”

Obi assured youths in the country that he is not going away but will stay and work for a new Nigeria.

The former governor of Anambra State said the structure that has created one hundred and thirty-three million people living in multidimensional poverty can’t go away overnight. “We will walk through darkness until daybreak,” he said.

He said the poll did not meet the minimum standard for a free and fair election, adding that the poll will go down as the most controversial election conducted in Nigeria.

Obi lamented that Nigeria cannot conduct elections 63 years after independence.

Obi’s Full Speech:

Address to the Nation

Dear Nigerians,

1. On 25th February 2023, Nigerians trooped out en-masse to participate in what was promised and expected to be a free, fair and transparent Presidential and National Assembly elections. But in all things, we are enjoined to give thanks.

2. First to Almighty God for the privilege of making Datti Baba-Ahmed and I, the tools to champion the cause of a New Nigeria that will fundamentally enhance the fortunes of our dear country. Let me also appreciate and thank all Nigerians that participated in our last election especially those who believed and tirelessly worked for a New Nigeria and voted for us. My profound thanks go to the youths, ‘Obidients’ and support groups for your commitment and resilience for a better Nigeria. You truly showed that you can take back your country!

3. We continue to pray for the repose of the souls of all Nigerians killed during the campaigns and for those that were violently attacked, we pray for their quick recovery. We reiterate our total condemnation of such attacks and continue to demand that security agencies stop further attacks and bring perpetrators to book.

4. The commitment and resilience of Nigerians, even in the face of unwarranted and barbaric attacks is a testimony that a New Nigeria is Indeed POssible. The Lady, Jennifer Efidi who was stabbed but insisted on exercising her right to vote and indeed all Nigerians who voted during the election are the shinning stars leading us to a New Nigeria!

5. The election has been conducted and results announced as programmed. It is a clear deviation from the electoral rules and guidelines as we were promised and did not meet the minimum criteria of a free, transparent, credible and fair election devoid of voter intimidation and suppression, and late commencement of voting in some specific states.

6. This will probably go down as one of the most controversial elections ever conducted in Nigeria. The good and hardworking people of Nigeria have again been robbed by the institutions and leaders whom we trusted.

7. However, let me humbly and most respectfully appeal to all Nigerians to remain peaceful, law-abiding and conduct themselves in a most responsible manner. Please be assured that for Datti and I, and indeed for all of us, this is not the end, but the beginning of the journey to birth a New Nigeria.

8. Datti Baba-Ahmed and I remain absolutely undaunted and deeply committed to this project of a New Nigeria that will be built on honesty, transparency, fairness, justice and equity. All of these starts with the process -The process through which people are elected to office is as important (if not more important) than what they do thereafter with the office and authority.

9. If we seek to be called Your Excellency, then the process through which we are elected should also be excellent or sufficiently credible to generate the required confidence and moral authority to govern and lead. As you all know, the destruction of a society can be a gradual or sudden process through acts such as deliberate refusal to obey the rule of law and via the suppression of the will of the people.

10. Let me reiterate and assure my good people of Nigeria that we will follow all available legal and peaceful procedures to reclaim our mandate.

11. I urge you all to continue with your campaigns and troop out on Saturday 11th March 2023 to vote massively again for Labour Party-LP (Mama, Papa and Pikin) in the Governorship and State Assembly Elections. Please do not despair at a time when we can still achieve massive victories in the forthcoming elections on the 11th March 2023.

Thank you all and God bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Mr Peter Obi
Labour Party Presidential Candidate 

Obi disclosed this on Wednesday afternoon in a post via his verified Twitter handle.

He said he would in no short time address Nigerians and the international community.

“Our Vice presidential candidate Dr. Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed is addressing an international press conference at the Labour Party Headquarters in Abuja. I intend to address Nigerians and the international community shortly,” he tweeted.