The campaign office of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said the party’s flag-bearer’s candidacy is driven by a patriotic determination to birth a new Nigeria, and not by sectional or religious considerations.
The Obi-Datti campaign said this via a statement issued on Thursday by the head of the office, Diran Onifade.
The campaign organisation noted that attempts at whittling down Obi’s popularity among Nigerians were to label the LP presidential candidate “a jingoist of religion and tribe in a bid to curry favour with other religious or ethnic interests.”
It stated that Obi, being “a frontrunner” in the presidential race, his movements – whether private or public – have become more trailed than before.
It said because of Obi’s high visibility, some people saw his frequent appearances at churches or secular programmes as religious adventures with political undertones, stressing that the former governor of Anambra State has always been a regular sight at church services irrespective of the denomination.
“Even as governor, Obi has always been involved in religious issues whether Christianity or Islam. He always seeks prayers for himself from those around him including subordinates because he sees himself as a child of God’s abundant grace and therefore needs constant supplications.
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“As governor, Obi sponsored Muslims to Mecca, for Hajj and always urged them to pray for him. Obi although a Catholic, has not limited himself to his faith even before becoming a presidential candidate.
“We recall vividly that when Pastor Adeboye visited Anambra State to dedicate a church built by one of the top Anambra citizens in Nnewi, Obi was physically there with the revered Pastor. These instances are verifiable to buttress the fact that the LP Presidential flag bearer has been consistent in his way of life as it relates to his faith, prayers and relationship with his maker,” the campaign organisation said.
The Obi-Datti campaign stated that Obi’s visits to churches were to solicit prayers for his candidacy from worshippers and not for campaign.
“There is nowhere he gave a kobo to any church or pastor. We also understand the frustration of Obi’s opponents who lack the physical and mental strength to go round seeking God’s face in his project and have chosen the easy way, which is blackmail and slander.
“If Obi is to be cubby-holed, he should be seen as a candidate of the youths and the poor in society whom he identified as the victims of successive federal administrations. While Obi is making frantic efforts to market himself to the Nigerian people with issue-driven campaigns, his detractors are busy trying hard to tag him as a candidate of one faith. But the plain and irreducible truth is that Obi’s candidacy cuts across every divide,” it added.
The Obi-Datti campaign said Obi has refrained from joining issues with anyone because he sees these variables as instruments used in the past to deceive and misrule Nigerians.
It, however, called on Nigerians to “be watchful and to try as much as possible to undermine and frustrate these agents of the old brigade who have been holding the country down.”
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