2023: Peter Obi’s Ambition Shaky As Rivers LP Candidate Blasts Ex-Gov Over Alleged Trade-Off With Wike, Ortom
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, is currently under fire over his alleged deal with the governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, ahead of the forthcoming general election.
A report by The Nation indicates that various party stakeholders, including governorship candidates in some states and other candidates for the 2023 general election, are currently displeased with Obi over the said deal.
Source: Facebook
Legit.ng gathered that Obi has allegedly entered into agreements with some members of Wike’s G5 governors in a deal that would see him supporting PDP’s candidates in Rivers state, Benue state and one other PDP state in the southeast in the hope that the governors of the affected states would work for the Labour Party during the presidential poll.
According to the report, it was alleged that in Rivers state, Obi may have agreed to prevail on candidates of his party not to contest the 2023 general elections in the state.
Obi, who was in the state on Thursday, November 17, as an invited guest of the governor to inaugurate the Nkpolu-Oroworokwo Flyover, had begged Wike to take the state in 2023 and, in exchange, concede the presidential votes to him.
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He had said:
“I’ve listened to what you said. You said I should advise Labour people to be careful of the state. I’ll talk to them, and we will negotiate. So, if we leave the state for him, he will leave the centre for us. Is it not?
“If we leave the state for him, he will leave the centre for us. So, we will negotiate it. We know you are in charge, and we will not quarrel with you. Anybody who quarrels with you doesn’t know what he is doing. I will not try it.
“I’m begging, please give us this one, take the others, we will leave it for you. I’ll accommodate them in the other one.”
It was gathered that no sooner Obi finished his speech than anger erupted among LP members, especially those who bought forms to contest elections in the state.
They were said to be aggrieved that Obi was willing and eager to compromise their chances in the forthcoming polls in his desperation for Wike’s support.
A source who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity said:
“Some of them were particularly concerned that the LP governorship candidate in the state, Beatrice Itubo, known to have been mobilising support for Obi, was in crutches nursing injuries she sustained from a domestic accident when her presidential candidate was trading off her ambition."
Another source told the Nation that Obi came to Port Harcourt when Beatrice Itubo, the governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Rivers state, was still on the sickbed nursing injuries she sustained in a domestic accident.
The source said:
“This woman has been mobilising support for him. Obi did not see any verifiable reason to at least visit the woman in the hospital. Rather, he was comfortably at home trading the woman’s ambition off with Wike, all in his selfish ambition to be President.
“Yes, there is horse trading in politics. The honest thing would have been to see the woman, probably discuss reasons with her on the importance of working with the PDP candidate and shown empathy with the woman.”
According to the newspaper, when contacted for comments, Itubo said she only understood Obi’s statement within the context of politics, saying she would never step down for Wike’s governorship candidate.
She insisted that since Obi did not buy forms for her, he would not negotiate anything on her behalf.
The governorship candidate, however, appealed to aggrieved party members to see the statement as political.
Itubor said Wike lacked the capacity to influence votes for Obi and expressed worries over her presidential candidate fraternising with the governor.
She said:
“It is a political statement. He didn’t buy the form for me, and I didn’t buy the form for him. Everybody bought the form for themselves. So, I didn’t see how he would negotiate for me.''
2023: Beware of Peter Obi, Christian youth group sends powerful message to Nigerians
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that less than 100 days before the conduct of the presidential election, Nigerians were asked to be wary of the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
It was reported that the warning was given in Abuja, the nation's capital, on Friday, November 18, by the United Christian Youth Forum of Nigeria (UCYFN).
The group insisted that Obi, who was a former governor of Anambra state, was not what he claimed to be.
Source: Legit.ng
