Peter Obi’s Group Knocks Atiku Over Election Comments

The Peter Obi Support Network has carpeted the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, over his comments that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, does not have a chance to win the 2023 presidential election.

Atiku, had, in a programme on a national television, said Obi could not win the 2023 presidential election because the Labour Party did not have any governor elected on its platform and did not have National Assembly members.

But reacting to the comment, the Peter Obi group described the former vice president’s comments as “unsolicited and clearly erroneous political consultancy”.

The group stated this in a press statement through its spokesman, Comrade Sani Altukry, and made available to journalists on Saturday.

Altukry said Atiku wrongly based his permutation for 2023 election on the assumed influence of corruption promoting and vote-buying mercenaries, called political structure.

He said the PDP presidential flagbearer took the people for granted by failing to consider their unassailable powers and acknowledging them as the key determinants of election victory.

He said, “Sovereignty resides with the people. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s assertion speaks to the illusions of the fascist school of thought that believes that the masses do not matter and erroneously believes that the masses cannot think for themselves.

“In essence, Atiku is saying that Nigerians are some kind of slaves who cannot take a political decision on their own, except as imposed on them by their slave masters.

“This erroneous idea belongs to the past, and so we assure the former vice president and those of his class who hold such derogatory perception of Nigerians that a new Nigeria is here and Nigerians are ready to take their destiny in their own hands.”

He insisted that the Peter Obi candidacy is not a mere political project but a national movement for the reawakening of Nigerians to take their destiny in their hands.

He added that the people are ready to break the chains and shackles for which they are derided as being “sub-citizens” with the so-called structure being the deciders of where their votes shall go.

The statement read in part, “The attention of Peter Obi Support Network has been drawn to a recorded interview of His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in which he gave unsolicited and clearly erroneous political consultancy on who can win elections and who cannot win.

“The seventh time presidential aspirant reportedly claimed that today’s most popular presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, cannot win the 2023 presidential election because Labour Party does not have any governor elected on its platform and does have LP National assembly members.

“Unfortunately, the former vice president based his entire permutation on the assumed influence of corruption promoting and vote-buying mercenaries euphemistically called political structure, and failed to consider the unassailable powers of the masses of Nigeria, who actually are the most powerful force in a democracy and the key determinants of election victory.

“We are banking on the votes of the millions of dissatisfied but genuinely patriotic Nigerians who want to see a truly independent, prosperous and thriving democratic Nigeria.

“And everyday, as we move from community to community, from market to market, from mosque to mosque and from church to church, we are encouraged by the passion displayed by these Nigerians for a new, working and productive Nigeria under the leadership of Mr. Peter Obi and Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.

“We expected that the former Vice President, having confirmed the undeniable competence, integrity and wide acceptability of Mr. Peter Obi, that he would demonstrate his true love for Nigeria and a genuine desire for her progress by dropping his ambition to be President of Nigeria and endorse Mr. Peter Obi who has shown practical readiness and preparedness to retrieve Nigeria from the precipice of total collapse.

“We trust that Alhaji Abubakar will read the handwriting on the wall and do the needful.”