By Anthony Nwachukwu
Some desperate political parties have recruited some professional blackmailers and hirelings to attack the growing goodwill of Mr. Peter Obi and his running-mate, Baba Datti-Ahmad, by posing as supporters but issuing abusive and provocative statements against the north, Fulani, Yoruba and Muslim groups.
Disclosing this plot in Abuja, the Obi-Datti Media Office said that available intelligence “shows that some money has even been deployed for the main purpose of recruiting these persons.
Their “main agenda is to make the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, and his Vice, Datti Baba-Ahmad, look bad in the eyes of some interest groups, particularly the ethnic Yoruba, Fulani and the North.”
It added: “Our findings show that some of these hirelings will be issuing threats and utterances that will provoke other tribes to reconsider their support for Obi.
“We are privy to critical information that both the hirer and the hirelings involved in this devious act have been adequately mobilised financially and detailed to cause the South West and the North to reconsider their growing positive position on Obi and the Labour Party.”
However, the LP Media Office said that masterminds of that plan were living in the past where tribe and religion were mischievously fanned to subvert the larger interest of the society and gain undue advantage in the political space.
“This development is the latest of the mischief aimed at undermining the growing support of the LP ticket holder, whom they have tried in vain to pigeonhole into various groups – ethnic, religious or regional,” it noted.
“We want to reiterate, for the umpteenth time, that Obi-Datti candidacy is a national project designed by the people to rescue and take back their country from the grip of corrupt, bad leaders holding it.
“Our candidate has said repeatedly that 2023 election is not going to be determined by ethnic or religious colourations or even entitlements, but must be based on character, competence and capacity.
”Therefore, it urged members of the public to watch out and disregard any such induced pecuniary statements purportedly coming from Obi’s supporters when in reality they are designed by opponents to harm the project.