The leadership of Labour Party has saluted the courage of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for publicly endorsing its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, describing it as a worthy New Year’s gift.
Obasanjo had in the said message personally signed by his spokesperson, Kehinde Akinyemi, stated that the former Anambra State governor had an edge in the February 25 poll.
Hours after his endorsement, the All Progressives Congress presidential campaign council berated the ex-president, describing him as a paperweight politician.
A statement signed by the Director of Media and Publicity for the PCC, Bayo Onanuga, said that Obasanjo does not have the leverage to make anyone win neither a presidential nor councillorship election in the country.
But in a phone chat with The PUNCH, the National Secretary of Labour Party, Umar Farouk, hailed the former president who he called a peace advocate and a nation builder.
Farouk described his open endorsement for the LP candidate as worthy “New Year’s gift” for both the party and its presidential candidate.
He said, “We are very excited. It is one of the greatest gifts that the Labour Party and our presidential candidate will ever have. Expectedly, President Obasanjo is someone who is known to be an advocate of peace and a nation builder. He has indeed proven to the world and the international community that our presidential candidate is one of the best.
“Therefore, I think Obasanjo’s endorsement is a step in the right direction. Beyond that, the castigation of his former vice president, that he is not trustworthy, indicated that Nigerians should follow Obasanjo’s recommendation by supporting our candidate.
“It has been proven that none of these people contesting against Obi can really deliver Nigeria. Is it Tinubu or Atiku? We have seen what they can do.
“Tinubu is a leader of APC and we know 70 per cent of Buhari’s cabinet is from Tinubu. What has he done for the betterment of Nigerians? Atiku too as VP has been virtually in charge of Obasanjo’s administration and sales of Nigerian assets for eight years. That’s the only thing he can talk about after all these fraudulent sales of the country’s assets. But Nigerians know better.
“We pray that this New Year’s gift by Obasanjo is something we are very happy with and we would like other elder statesmen to emulate him by endorsing Peter Obi to change the government for the betterment of Nigerians.”
In a related development, the Chief Spokesperson for Tinubu-Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, has tweeted via his Twitter handle that the open show of support for the former Anambra governor can’t have any effect on his principal.
While stating that it is within Obansajo’s right to endorse anybody, Keyamo also believed that his action has inadvertently put the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in bad light.
He tweeted, “Quite within OBJ’s right to endorse for anyone, but bad for PDP in two ways: (1) Atiku’s former boss does not think he deserves to be president this time around (2) The little support OBJ gave PDP in 2019 and they failed, he has taken that to LP. No effect at all on Bola Tinubu.”
