A group, the Conference of Nigeria Elders for National Development, has described the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi, as the most friendly and heterogeneous governor in the history of Anambra State.
The group accused those it called failed and desperate politicians to be behind attempts to fulfill their desperate plot to malign the hard earned reputation of the LP Presidential candidate, vowing that they will be put to shame.
The group said the allegations of bigotry against the former governor of Anambra coming from different quarters prior to the forthcoming elections is false and calculated.
In a statement signed by Dr Bode Aganga,its National Coordinator and Dr Mrs Aisha Ibrahim Goni, National Secretary, respectively, the group which was reacting to an allegation that Obi was not only hostile to non indigenes in Anambra when he held sway as governor of the state but also disallowed their businesses to flourish, called on Nigerians to disregard the false claims.
It particularly flayed the claim by a factional spokesperson of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Alpha Mohammed who it noted that in his desperate bid to launch himself to national polity, resorted to dropping of the name of LP’s presidential candidate.
In its reaction, the group said though the incident occurred before Obi became governor, he worked to ensure that there was unity among all those living in the state.
The statement by the group read in part: “We wish to let the public know that the said Alpha Mohammed who authored the so called statement, was dismissed by the leadership of the SDP from its media unit and has since been operating as consultant to faceless organisations.
“We believe that this was the only way he thought he could relaunch himself into the national polity but to us, it is wrong and we advise him to find another suitable way of getting himself known in the national polity rather than thinking of lacing on a credible candidate like Peter Obi.
“Our attention has been brought to the above campaign of calumny launched by some faceless groups against the person of Mr Peter Obi, whose candidacy has been embraced by well meaning people of Nigeria.
“Is it by coincidence that it came when we were reliably informed that some political parties have charged their political office holders to hire people to relentlessly attack Obi with falsehoods on all available conventional and social media platforms?
“The false writer had claimed that after the killing of northerners on the 21st and 22nd of March, 2006 (before Peter Obi became the governor), he reacted later by issuing statement, telling northerners that,” You people should tell your people to stop killing our people in the north.”
“This is complete falsehood. If Obi made that statement, it would have been lavishly published by the media. Would the author show us the link where the statement was published? Let him also give details of those allegedly mistreated by Peter Obi’s administration and provide concrete proofs of the allegations.
“The false writer said Obi requested the DSS to remove Hausa traders near his house. He wrote that the Hausa man was invited by an Igbo barman to attract more customers. The truth is that there were no barmen at all.
“The person that was removed by the estate security on their own was a woman selling articles like biscuits because she also supplied drugs to bad boys. As I write, the suya seller is still there.
“Obi is desirous of becoming the president and he has been going around telling people the problems of the country and how he hopes to solve them. He expects other contestants to do the same rather than sponsoring falsehoods to pitch him against the people.
“During his tour of the north, Obi, for example, made it clear that expanse of land in the North for agricultural purposes is a great gift to Nigeria, which if properly managed, would be able to feed the nation and have enough for export.”