How Nigeria Youths Persuaded Peter Obi To Dump PDP
LAGOS MAY 26TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Last weekend’s massive mobilisation by Nigerian youths who planned the one million-man march, on Saturday, was the final push Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State needed to finally pull out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Until the event, Obi, who was the candidate of the opposition party for the Vice Presidency, in the February 23, 2019 presidential election, was still contemplating whether to slug it out with the other gladiators for the single ticket to contest next year’s presidential election.
But the enthusiasm of the Nigerian youths who are said to have upped to 10 million in membership from different groups that are coalescing into one, was said to have snapped the former governor, from taking the risk of contesting and losing under the PDP, given the role money would play in the PDP primaries, slated for this weekend.
Apart from the hunger to accede to the yearnings of the youths that he must be on the ballot willy-nilly, the PDP hierarchy, was said to have also denied him of support from his traditional base in the South East by changing the original delegates and replacing them with those averse with to his ambition.
In Anambra State, for instance, the original delegates, which produced the governorship candidate of the party in the 2021 governorship election, Valentine Ozigbo, was suddenly changed and and a fresh list of those sympathetic to Chris Uba faction, a sworn enemy, was raised at the last minute.
This finally erased any doubt from the former governor’s mind that the PDP was not interested in playing by its own rules and was bent on skewing the entire process to frustrate him on the last day.
Another factor that was said to have played a major role, was the manner the PDP destroyed the zoning arrangement of the PDP and the emerging picture that the aspirants from the South East had no chance to clinch the ticket.
Even Obi’s role as the Vice President, which would at least have given him some major role in the emerging government of the PDP, if it won the election, was no longer assured as governors from the party, were said to have insisted that one of them must be on the ballot, either as a presidential candidate or running mate, making it certain that South East, which had been very fateful to the party, had further been pushed away.
On Tuesday, a coalition of 17 groups urged Obi to dump the PDP, as a result of the dangerous intrigues they noticed were playing out at the main opposition party, warning the former governor not to soil his hands by succumbing to pressures of the brand of politics being played in the party.
Obi, had in recent interviews decried how some of his opponents in the chase for PDP delegates and other political parties were sharing dollars, even when manufacturers were scouting the nooks and corners of Nigeria in search of same to procure raw materials and spares.
His vow that any government official who was caught spending foreign currencies other than the Naira, would go to jail, if he became the President, had also resonated with Nigerian youths, with other groups joining on Wednesday to urge him to leave the PDP and join another political party.
The Good Governance Group (GGG), Citizens Initiative for Better Nigeria, Delta State CSOS for Peter Obi, Naija Arise Network, and Northern Youth Alliance for Peter Obi, were among those making the demand urging him to “heed the call of the multitude and immediately resign from the PDP to join a ‘Coalition of Parties for National Rebirth’ to actualise your presidential ambition and fulfil the hopes and prayers of long suffering Nigerians”.
The fresh demand, came on the heels of the coalition of 18 support groups for Peter Obi (COP), which feared that inside the PDP presidential aspirants were doling out hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the delegates that will vote at the forthcoming primaries.
The Good Governance Group (GGG) after their meeting in Lagos to examine the state of the nation and the upcoming general elections also issued an urgent call for Peter Obi to lead “a coalition of parties for national rebirth” in the 2023 presidential election.
In a statement issued by the CSO’s Wednesday, May 25, 2022, they said: “The President Nigeria needs now must be: a decisive, principled and humane person who will tackle the prevailing insecurity head on and also inspire our men and women in uniform to be the best that we know that they can be a good manager of people and resources, and who has the capacity to refocus our political economy from sharing of resources to production of goods and value added services.
“We unanimously agreed that the best person to be the next elected President of Nigeria is Mr. Peter Obi, a past governor of Anambra State.
“A Coalition for Peter Obi (COP) had on Saturday 21st May 2022, organised “One-Million-Man March for Peter Obi” nationwide which proved without an iota of doubt, that the Peter Obi brand is more popular than the PDP. It is an open secret that the votes of PDP delegates for the presidential primaries are on sale. We plead with you not to join in the filthy and unwinnable game of money politics, the habitual domain of thieving politicians that smears and stains all that participate in it.
“Furthermore, you must not run foul of the 2022 Electoral Act which forbids candidates, from participating in more than one set of primaries in one electoral cycle. We therefore demand that you heed the call of the multitude and immediately resign from the PDP to join the coalition of parties for National Rebirth to actualise your presidential ambition and fulfil the hopes and prayers of long suffering Nigerians.”
Those who signed the resolution, included: Citizens’ Initiative for Better Nigeria – Peter Obi 2023 – Engr Ik Umeh, Delta State CSOS for Peter Obi – Richard Benin, Coordinator, Naija Arise Network – Hon Daniel Achema, Convener, Good Governance Group (GGG) – Otunba Dolapo Balogun, and Northern Youth Alliance for Peter Obi – Yusuf Lawal Mohammed President General.
Whirlwind News
Short URL: https://newsrangers.com/?p=88229
Posted by News Rangers
on May 26 2022. Filed under National.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
