Peter Obi: Labour Party Presidential Candidate Not a Hater of Northerners, Says Aide
- Peter Obi's spokesman, Valentine Obienyem has dismissed reports of his principal being a hater of northerners
- The media aide of the Labour Party presidential candidate accused some faceless groups of sponsoring falsehood against his principal
- He noted that the Labour Party had earlier alerted Nigerians to the campaign of calumny planned against Obi
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FCT, Abuja - The media aide to Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, Valentine Obienyem, has denied reports that his principal is a religious bigot and a hater of people of northern Nigerian extraction.
Obienyem, in a statement on Thursday, June 30, said some faceless groups, sponsored by political opponents, are responsible for spreading falsehood about Obi due to his growing popularity.
Source: Original
The statement comes in reaction to earlier reports which claimed Obi didn’t respond appropriately to the killing of some northerners in Anambra back in March 2006.
The article also further alleged that Obi, who was Anambra governor from June 2007 to March 2014, requested the DSS to remove some Hausa traders near his house while also ejecting some northern traders from their space.
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However, Obi’s media aide, in his response, said all the allegations are not true. He explained that the incident referenced about the killing of some northerners happened before Obi became the Anambra state governor and his principal never encouraged the killings or the perpetrators.
Obienyem added that Obi believes in the unity of Nigeria and what each region can contribute to national development based on comparative advantage.
His words:
“Our attention was brought to the above campaign of calumny launched by some faceless groups.
“Is it by coincidence that it came when we were reliably informed that some political parties have charged their political office holders to hire people to relentlessly attack Obi with falsehoods on all available social media platforms?
“The false writer said that after the killing of northerners on the 21st and 22nd of March, 2006, before Peter Obi became the governor, his reaction came in the form of a statement, namely: ‘you people should tell your people to stop killing our people in the north’.
“This is complete falsehood. If Obi made that statement, it would have been lavishly published by the media. Would the author show us the link where the statement was published?
“The false writer said Obi requested the DSS to remove Hausa traders near his house. He wrote that the Hausa man was invited by an Igbo barman to attract more customers. The truth is that there were no barmen at all.
“The person that was removed by the estate security on their own was a woman selling articles like biscuits because she also supplied dru*gs to bad boys. As I write, the suya seller is still there.
“Obi is desirous of becoming the president and he has been going around telling people the problems of the country and how he hopes to solve them. He expects other contestants to do the same rather than sponsoring falsehoods to pitch him against the people.
“During his tour of the north, Obi, for example, made it clear that expanse of land in the north for agricultural purposes are a great gift to Nigeria, which if properly managed, would be able to feed the nation and for export.”
2023: Peter Obi giving APC, PDP sleepless nights, says Victor Umeh
On his part, Senator Victor Umeh has declared that the mass movement trailing the presidential aspiration of Obi has become a source of worry for both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition - Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Umeh stated this in an interactive section with some members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, in Awka, the Anambra state capital on Tuesday, June 21.
He added that the brazen act of denying the southeast and Ndigbo to produce the president by the two major parties of the APC and PDP was totally unacceptable and against the principles and letters of zoning arrangement between the north and the south.
2023: Obaseki says Peter Obi is a force to reckon with
Similarly, Edo state governor, Godwin Obaseki, has declared that Nigerians are no longer interested in the APC and the PDP.
According to the governor, Nigerians are now in search of an alternative political party ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Obaseki also acknowledged the rising political profile of Obi, saying his supporters are in every Nigerian home.
Source: Legit.ng
