The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, has declared that he will contest the 2027 poll on the platform of the LP.
Obi, while assessing the state of affairs of the opposition political parties in the country, pointedly stated that they were all engulfed in crises, leaving none as a safe haven.
The former governor of Anambra State blamed the crises in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the LP and others on government, whom he alleged instigated the problems in its plot to decapitate the opposition.
He reaffirmed his allegiance to the LP, declaring that he would continue to contest election on the platform of the party.
Obi’s decision, which was contained in a viral video uploaded on the LP’s WhatsApp platform on Saturday, seemed to have put paid to the speculation that he had been working with former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, and others to form a coalition of political parties with the sole aim of contesting against President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
A media outlet, Danroyce TV, had recorded Obi while he was having an interactive session with a group of young Nigerians.
“I will still continue to run in the Labour Party. I’m a member of the Labour Party”, he stated while responding to a question on the matter.
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On a question concerning the disputes in the LP and why he had not resolved the issues, Obi answered, “What is happening in the Labour Party and the PDP is caused by the government. Quote me anywhere.
“We had a problem in our party before, in the past, (Umaru) Yar’Adua was the President. I went to him then; he called the (then) INEC Chairman Prof. Maurice Iwu, and told him I don’t want any problem in any party. We were forced to fix it.
“But today, in all the parties, there are problems. These are deliberate problems caused by the system. These are some of the things I want to clean up if I have the opportunity.
“Parties will function very well because you can’t have a system working without a strong opposition.”
Obi also spoke on the role voters must play if they must achieve a change in government, calling to them jealously guard their votes on the election day.
He noted that though party agents were often recruited to protect the interest of a party, the ultimate protection of the votes and to ensure that they would count, must come from the voters themselves.
Obi told the youth to be wary of the antics of those who did not want the old order of doing things to go, adding that they must sustain the pressure to uphold democratic values.
He equally shared with the participant his views about the age of politicians, noting that he would have preferred there was a retirement age for politicians to avoid the current practice of people contesting election in their 70s and above.
By John Ameh @TheNigerianTribune
