PDP, APC, LP Trade Words Over Obi’s Endorsement By Obasanjo

The Labour Party (LP)’s presidential candidate Peter Obi‘s endorsement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo has continued to stir controversies from various quarters of major political parties in the country.

Naija News reports that since Obi was openly endorsed by Obasanjo in a New Year letter as his preferred candidate, several reactions and comments have been passed as some say the former president wants a puppet to promote his third term agenda while others have praised him for giving the Nigerian youth a chance.

It was gathered that the spokesperson All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council, Niyi Akinsiju who was featured on Channel TV Politics Today on Monday said the party is not bothered about the endorsement and that it means nothing to them.

He advanced that “We are not bothered about this endorsement. For us, it is so much wind and violence because to our mind, the exact background of the person of General Obasanjo in terms of performance in the office does not sell him to us as a credible individual that we should seek his endorsement.

“Since 2019, he had gone his way and we have not been bothered. We know that during his term he did not perform despite the opportunities and the resources at his beck and call.

“So, we are talking of a government that has creatively administered Nigeria despite the tailwinds.”

On his part, the spokesperson for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Daniel Bwala admitted that even though some of the points raised by Obasanjo in the new year letter were valid, but it didn’t take away the fact he is looking for a puppet.

He stated on the programme that“That is the crux of his letter: Obasanjo is in search of a third term by proxy. In other words, he is saying that Peter Obi is a puppet and that is why he believes Obi should be voted for because, at every given time he goes wrong, Obasanjo guarantees you, Nigerian people, that he is going to tell him (Obi) to go this way or go that way.

“But let us go to the fact. Obasanjo to the greatest respect lacks the moral ground to become the father of the nation.”

However, contrary to what both the PDP and APC said the Labour Party‘s presidential campaign spokesman Kenneth Okonkwo described the former president’s endorsement of Obi as a step in the right direction.

Okonkwo claimed that it was necessary for Obasanjo to speak up because the country was in a moral crisis.

He submitted on the programme on Channels Tv that “There is the saying that the greatest place in hell will be reserved for those who keep quiet in times of moral crisis. Nigeria is going bad not because of the violence of the bad people but because of the silence of the good ones.

“Obasanjo has refused to keep silent in times of moral crisis. We are in a crisis in this country.

“Obasanjo has never kept silent in times of moral crisis. He went to jail because of and he came out and became a president.”