In the South East and in many other parts of Nigeria, the presidential aspiration of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi is arguably becoming a religion and residents of the region are not making pretences about it. The Obi gospel is spreading like wildfire and is propelled with Pentecostal zeal. Not a few see him as the surest foot for the South East Presidency project.
Endorsing the Labour Party flag bearer, first civilian Governor of Enugu State and onetime National Chairman of PDP, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo said that he is a credible alternative in the face of how the APC and PDP treated the South East in their just concluded conventions.
Nwodo said: “Igbo will not remain political slaves serving other geo-political zones in Nigeria. I know that politics is dynamic. This is a period of political alignment and re-alignment for the Igbo politicians so that our common interest can see the light of the day.”
Secretary of the Chukwuemeka Ezeife-led Igbo Elders Consultative Forum (IECF), Prof Charlie Nwekeaku told Saturday Sun that South East people would vote massively for any party that gave its ticket to the zone, particularly Obi’s Labour Party.
Like Nwodo, he assured that the pursuit of the presidency by the South East was still on. “We still have a window to pursue that cause,” he said.
“However, the unexpected emergence of Mr Peter Obi as the presidential candidate of the Labour Party has brought a new dimension in Nigeria politics. He is a candidate that gained immediate national and to some extent international acceptance,” Okeke-Ogene said.
In the same vein, former National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, in an interview with BBC Igbo service, said that he was deeply pained by Obi’s exit from his party.
This, according to him, Obi was an asset to the party. In fact, he said that the PDP was still mourning Obi’s exit. He said that anybody saying that the party leadership was not regretting losing Obi was not being truthful.
Ever since the Labour Party became very popular as a result of Obi’s emergence as its standard bearer, there has been a gale of defections from other political parties into it, particularly from the APC and PDP.
The PDP senator, Ezenwa Onyewuchi, who represents Imo East Senatorial District, has dumped the party for the Labour Party.
In a letter addressed to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, conveying his decision to resign his membership of the PDP to join the Labour Party, Onyewuchi said: “This is after due consultation with my family, constituents and supporters. This will enable me to participate fully in the movement for a new Nigeria.”
Similarly, members of the APC and the PDP in Imo North Senatorial District of Imo State recently collapsed their structures into the Labour Party and pledged their loyalty and support to its presidential candidate, Obi.
A former Deputy Chief of Staff to an ex-governor of Imo State, Chikwem Onuoha, said that the decision was reached after an investigation showed that Obi was the best presidential material among the contestants
“Today, the APC and the PDP are dead in Okigwe Zone. We have resolved to collapse our structures in the zone into the Labour Party and to work for the victory of Peter Obi because he symbolises the hope of the ordinary people of Nigeria.
President General of the Okigwe North Youth Progressives Forum, Chidinma Onyenagubo, said that his group was mobilising people to obtain their PVCs to vote for LP in 2023.
In Enugu State, the story is the same. Members of some other parties particularly the PDP and the APC have reportedly started pitching their tents with the Labour Party.
In Oji River Local Government Area of the state, the party’s state Chairman, Ginger Ibeneme II, said that over 1,000 members of the APC and the PDP were set to join the party at the local government level.
(Sun)
