By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Emboldened by the recent endorsement of its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi by Nigeria’s former President Chief Olusegun Mathew Aremu Obasanjo, the Labour Party has appealed to other elder statesmen especially former Presidents / Heads of State and youths of Nigeria to boldly support Obi to win the February 25 presidential election.
The Chief Spokesman of Labour Party/Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation (LP-PCO), Dr. Yunusa Tanko while reacting to Sunday’s public endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo in an Open Letter to the Nigerian youths, implored other prominent Nigerians and opinion leaders to also come out to endorse the Labour Party flagbearer in the 2023 presidential election.
Dr. Tanko who exclusively spoke to Prompt News on Monday said the endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo should be seen beyond the prism of parry politics but a national war cry to rescue Nigeria from the precipice, adding that this is the time for other statesmen to also endorse Obi.
He said the endorsement of Mr. Peter Gregory Obi and his Vice Presidential candidate Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed by Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was received with great joy by the Labour Party, pointing out that Nigeria is on the part of greatness.
Elaborating further on the significance of the Obasanjo’s endorsement of Obi, Tanko said: ” For us we want to look at that particular letter from three perspectives; where we are, the warning side and the solution. No.1 we are very glad that the letter was written to the Nigerian people specifically the Nigerian youths.
“And in the letter paragraph 2, it was very clear that Olusegun Okikiola Mathew Aremu
Obasanjo alluded to the fact that 7 and half years as we are today, it have been uneventful and stressful situation where Nigerians live in IDP camps in their own country. It’s totally unacceptable.
“And he said to the Nigerian youths, this is their time. It’s not Emilokan, it’s Eyinlokan. And these are some of the things.. the fact that this is where we are.
But the warning he said was that we need to take back our country, for our future and if we don’t, we will have ourselves to blame”.
According to him, Obasanjo proffered solutions to Nigeria’s problems which includes the Nigerian youths to come out forcefully to own the process of selecting through the ballot box a fitting person to lead the country back to the part of prosperity.
Said he: “Based on the position he (Obasanjo) theorized which is the TVCP; meaning you have to exemplify and look at the track record of the person you want to vote for, the vision of that person, the character of that person and the physical and mental capacity of the person in question”.
The Labour Party chieftain argued that what Obasanjo postulated was in tandem with the 7-Point Agenda of Peter Obi which he said has to do with security of lives and property of Nigerians and leapfrogging the economy from oil to fourth-tier of industrial revolution.
Others he said are production center growth with food security and exportation; industrial reinvigoration with the revisiting the institutional and constitutional legal framework with the view of restructuring.
Said he: “And at the end of it all, we want human capital development that will create competitiveness and employment with a robust foreign policy that will bringing Nigeria back into the comity of nations.
“And these he has already critically examined, elucidated and amplified, which he saw in the capacity of Peter Gregory Obi and his Vice President which he said they have an edge over all these mentees that have come to him searching for his endorsement”.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party spokesman has emphasised the importance of the endorsement, saying it is what the party has been looking for to enhance its chances of winning the presidential election next month.
“Said he: “So this endorsement come with great joy to us and at the same time it also signify that yes Nigeria is out in the part of greatness.
“So we want to use the point of contact with our former former President Olusegun Obasanjo to reach out to all the other statesmen not to seat on the fence but come out boldly to rescuing Nigeria.
“As he rightly said Obi has a virtue, of which himself, Peter Gregory Obi has sxid that don’t vote me into power and leave me alone. I am ready to listen and am ready to work with
you.
“No wonder when Obasanjo also said that he has a niddle with a thread attached to it from North and South and may not be said in a lose ground but we have people who can help in guiding him so that he can be able to be what all of us believe he can be.
“And that for us is a statement of facts and we believe and we thank His Excellency President Olusegun Obasanjo and we hope the Nigerian youths will heed to this particular clarion call and all Nigerians who believe that Nigeria is in dare need of help that the solution has already been found in Peter Gregory Obi”.
