Out of desperation, the two political parties behemoth, All Progressives Congress, APC and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP appear to have perfected plot to sabotage the emergence of Mr. Peter Gregory Obi of the Labour Party as the successor of President Mohammadu Buhari on May 29,2023
By Miracle Egbo
The 2023 general elections are showing signs of desperation especially the presidential and the governorship elections. Going by the desperation of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential election of 2023 is likely going to pass in the annals of the country as the most expensive, most wasteful and most dubious election Nigeria ever had. It is equally going to be remembered as the election that ethnic jingoism took the centre stage. Observed political pundits, the 2023 presidential election, would be remembered for its brutality in terms of verbal attacks on the person of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi.
Behind the treachery and ethnic jingoism that would stand, willy-nilly, as the 2023 presidential election draws near, Tinubu’s desperation to win may have found expression in his jaded spin doctors, a highly powered serving APC governors from the northern axis who are doing everything politically possible to lay mines in the political path of Obi to dislodge him as they have seen that he is a political force that is gaining acceptance on the daily basis by the electorates who have sworn to enthrone a neutral person as the person to run the affairs of the country in May 29, 2023. These amalgam of both Atiku and Tinubu political hatchet men are doing everything political possible to truncate seamless conduct of the presidential election in February 25, 2023.
Information at the disposal of Tentacle revealed that the desperate politicians in APC had been trying through the court to put a cog in the wheel of the progress made by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC as it affect the conduct of the 2023 presidential election. In Owerri, the capital of Imo State controlled by APC through the help of Supreme Court, some desperate politicians allegedly at the heist of Tinubu have approached the High Court to declare the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS to be used in the election illegal, a move that was stopped by the Court when the case was thrown out for lack of merit. Not deterred, the same group approached an Appeal Court on the same issue, and the case was thrown out with a warning and a cost against those who instituted the case. It was gathered that the same group of politicians whose shenanigans are their signature left Owerri and came to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory and approached a Federal High Court on the same matter but was rebuffed by the presiding judge with serious warning and cost against them. Gloating on their acceptance by the judiciary to likely change the course of progress in conducting the general election, the group offered to approach a court of competent jurisdiction, this time changing its strategy on how to get at the National Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu whom they described as being stubborn for rebuffing their offer to suspend the use of BVAS in the 2023 general elections. Reports scooped by this medium revealed that the same set of people have approached a Federal High Court in Abuja, praying the court to nullify the position of Professor Yakubu because according to them, the INEC chairman failed to declare his assets before taking the oath of office as the chairman of the electoral umpire. The case suffered the same fate with the one instituted in Owerri. The same desperation saw the swathe of APC’s spin doctors to approach the Appeal Court in the same case but were shown the door on basis of technicalities as the presiding judge chided those who brought the case against Professor Yakubu for lack of legal freedom to institute the case.
In what many political pundits described as flying the kite, INEC through one of its National Commissioners who represented the National Chairman at a function of the electoral umpire muted the idea of the postponement of the election due largely to insecurity in the country. The outcry that trailed the mutation made the electoral umpire through its National Chairman at parley with the chairmen of the 18 political parties assured Nigerians that the election would go on as scheduled, and the usage of the BVAS is not negotiable in the forthcoming general election in the country. At the meeting well attended by the chairmen of political parties in the country, the National Chairman of the electoral umpire assured Nigerians that the election would hold as scheduled , adding that the earlier statement credited to the commission was not official, therefore, not authentic. Political analysts who spoke to this medium on the condition of anonymity said that the rumoured postponement of the election due to insecurity was “actually used to test the reaction of the electorate, and to feel the reaction of Nigerians should anything go amiss in the conduct of the election, and it is clearly geared towards scaring away supporters of the LP presidential candidate in the race”.
Speaking on the muted idea of the postponement of the election, Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor, Director of Mobilisation, Nigeria Diaspora Youth Coalition of LP said that the year 2023 is a defining year in the country’s democracy, adding that youths of the country are ready for the election and would resist any attempt to tamper with the date scheduled for the general elections in the country. ”2023 is a defining year in our democracy, we never see this amount of people queuing to get registered and get PVC, and we never see these numbers of Nigerians eager to get involved in the electoral process. The youths are determined to get involved in the electoral process”.
Ifaluyi-Isibor was resolute when he said that the plot to postpone the election will not see the light of the day. Hear him: “If the plot to postpone the election is real, I can assure you that it is going to fail. Nigerians are prepared for 2023, no amount of machination can deny them this opportunity to select their leaders. Today, Nigerian people have awakened, Peter has re-engineered the hope of Nigerians. He has re-engineered a regeneration process. He did that by speaking to the heart of Nigerians, showing them his antecedent as a governor. Have you heard any governor left an inheritance for his people? No cabal can be stronger than the people. Nigerians are pulling in one direction this time because Peter Obi is coming from a different mindset. Vote buying cannot play major role because 70 per cent of the voters, this time, is the youths who are not willing to accept your money for their votes. We are going to vote our leaders this time”.
In the same vein, another concerned Nigerian, Dr. Ambrose Owuru, Presidential Candidate, Hope Democratic Party in 2019 said that nobody should risk postponement of the election because it is going to send wrong signal to the Nigerian electorates. He cautioned INEC not to be allowed to be used by desperate politicians to plunge the country into constitutional crisis by postponing the election unnecessarily because of the implication on our nascent democracy. “Nobody tampers with election, if you must postpone, postpone two or three more weeks before election, not when people have gone out to vote. INEC power is to appoint election date in Section 132 of constitution, thereafter election belongs to the people. Once that day comes, you cannot change that date, 2019 postponement was ultra vires. Cabal is relic of colonial mentality. Whoever is elected goes there for his own benefit. Aso Rock cabal mission is to postpone election, insecurity was there in 2019, they are only playing cabal game to put people on notice that insecurity will mar election. They are creating fear unnecessarily but Nigerians are ready to confront the cabal because the election must go on. INEC has no constitutional power to postpone election. The Electoral Act prescribes insecurity an act of God as the condition for postponement not the Constitution. The electoral act is an act of the cabal”.
In the same pattern of ruffling the political feathers of Mr. Obi in the forthcoming presidential election, 11 northern governors who never gave Obi chance in the election were taken aback by the soaring popularity of Obi in the Northern part of the country despite the destitute of fact that LP has no structure in the region and its candidate is not known as it were. An informed source told this medium that the fear of the soaring popularity of the LP presidential candidate forced 11 governors of the APC extraction to allegedly hold meetings with the presidential candidate of PDP in the far away Dubai with the intention of re-strategizing on the best way to frustrate Obi in the forthcoming election. It was gathered that at the meeting, Atiku was able to extract commitment from the governors to support his bid as a perfect way of retaining power in the North after President Mohammadu Buhari. According to an insider at the meeting, the meeting was held in utmost secrecy and concrete commitment was extracted from the governors as they were promised of juicy recognition if Atiku wins the election. Part of the deal, according to the insider, is that the 11 governors’ sidekicks would be supported to win governorship elections with the firm promise that they would defect to PDP after handover in May 29, 2023.
Aso Rock informed source told Tentacle that presidency is not comfortable with the soaring popularity of Obi and has decided to look the way of Atiku as the political baggage of Tinubu would not allow the ruling political party to make inroad into victory in the forthcoming general elections. According to sources, old age and other physiological variables have continually gnawed at the chances of Tinubu at the polls hence the decision to pitch tent with the candidate of PDP whom they averred would continue with the legacy of the Fulani agenda in the country. Reports abound that presidency is assiduously working for the emergency of Atiku because, according to the source, Obi is too practical and sincere to be trusted. Even the presidency is surprised at the continual rise of Obi’s popularity among the electorate especially in the North where he is touted not to be known, and his political party has no structure whatsoever.
On the fringes of the raging conspiracy to frustrate Obi at the polls are the concerted efforts by some northern cabal to continue to attack the religious constituency of the LP Presidential candidate. Investigation orchestrated by this medium revealed that few weeks to the presidential election, there have been intensified efforts at harassing Christian communities in the Northern part of the country that are perceived to have empathy for the candidature of the LP presidential candidate in the race. For instance, in Kastina State members of a church were kidnapped in the midst of the service, and as the time of filing this report, the kidnapped members of the church are yet to regain their freedom. In the same vein, In Niger State a Reverend Father was burnt to death by terrorists who came to kidnap but met resistance but ended up in setting ablaze where the catholic priest is staying. The backlash of the death of the Catholic Priest saw the Police station in the locality razed down by the irate youths who blamed the police for not responding to the distress call from the Priest’s quarters.
In sync with the heist from the North against the presidential candidature of Obi is the unfortunate frenzy with which some disgruntled political elements from the South east are daily de-marketing his candidature in the forthcoming presidential election in the country. Professor Chukwuma Soludo, the governor of Anambra State on the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, in a long essay against the candidature of Obi averred that his predecessor in the office would not win at the polls, adding any vote for him is a wasted one. According to him, Obi does not have what it takes to win presidency. Soludo went a step further in dismantling campaign billboards of Obi in the state, insisting that his party failed to pay the statutory money required to pay before such billboards would be allowed to be erected.
Mr. Tony Ujubonu, Managing Director of Anambra State Signage and Advertising Agency said that the pulling down of the campaign billboards of Obi-Datti campaign is premised on the fact that his party failed to pay for the space even after several warning by the agency, adding that there no political witch-hunting in the exercise. It was gathered the campaign billboards of Obi were pulled down and replaced with the campaign billboards of APGA. Dan Ulasi, a chieftain of the PDP and a self -style warlord had at different fora chided the decision of the former governor of Anambra State to contest the presidential election, insisting that his action is capable of denying Ndigbo presidency after the tenure of Atiku, if he wins. Toeing the same line is Chief Arthur Eze, a business tycoon who has been going about de-marketing Obi.
In spite of the continued verbal attack on the person of Obi by Tinubu and to some extent the handlers of Atiku, the former Anambra State governor appears to be cruising home to victory, what with the endorsement galore by prominent Nigerians. Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of the country threw the gate of endorsement for Obi open when in his letter in January 1st, 2023 called on Nigerian youths to do everything politically possible to make sure that the former governor of Anambra State wins because he possessed all the required characters to lead the nation to the promised land, adding that failure to support him in the forthcoming presidential election would spell doom for the country. In the letter, Obasanjo called on all well meaning Nigerians to rally support for Obi because he is the only candidate that possesses integrity, capacity and sincerity to take this country to where it is supposed to be as a nation. In conclusion, former President Obasanjo said that in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice it is the time the whole nation gives power to the South East, and Obi happens to come from that region that has not been allowed to rule the country since 1999 till date.
In the same vein, the leader of the Ijaw nation in Niger Delta, Pa Edwin Clark has called on Nigerians to support the candidature of Obi in the forthcoming presidential election, saying that he is a fresh breath in the political firmament of the country. In his own message to the nation, he reiterated that in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice, Obi deserves the support of the Nigerian electorate in the forthcoming presidential election. He warned that failure to support Obi in the election would spell doom for the unity of the country which is paramount now because of the disunity inflicted on the nation by the nepotistic tendencies of the ruling APC in the last eight years. He further said that for the sake of the unity of the country, the support of Obi is the only panacea for the elusive peace and unity in the country.
The leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo called all Yoruba people to rally support for the candidature of Obi, saying that his election stands for equity, fairness and justice that have been in short supply since the nascent democracy in the country. Adebanjo said that it is morally wrong for any politician from the South West geopolitical zone to contest for the number one seat of the country, adding that same goes to the Northern part of the country. He urged the youths to use their numerical strength in making sure that Obi emerged the winner of the 2023 presidential election because that is the only solution to the myriad of problems facing the country recently. Another prominent Nigerian, Major General Theophilous Danjuma (retd) has equally called on well meaning Nigerians to support Obi in his bid to lead this country out of the economic doldrums that the ruling APC brought to bear in the nation in the last eight years that it has been in power. He equally warned that any attempt to deny the country this golden opportunity of electing Obi would spell doom for the political wellbeing of the country.
Information at the disposal of this medium revealed that the two prominent political parties, PDP and APC out of desperation have decided to weaponize poverty in the land through unleashing ill-gotten wealth on the callously impoverished electorate by the government of APC in the last eight years. It was gathered that APC and PDP have concluded plans for vote buying as a formidable way to conspire against the victory of Obi at the polls. As at the time of filing this story, the two behemoth political parties have recruited coordinators in the six geopolitical zones whose duty is to induce the electorate with money in order not to support the former governor of Anambra State. The decision of the two political parties to weaponize poverty in the country may have found expression in the way and manner they dollarized their emergence as the presidential flag bearer of their various parties in the forthcoming presidential election. At the primaries of the two political parties Atiku and Tinubu allegedly used dollars to literally control the decisions of the delegates at the said primaries which resulted in their emergence as the flag bearers of their political parties, the same method they are allegedly trying to unleash on the electorate across the nation. These plots are already evidenced in the various campaign rallies they have organized in the nooks and crannies of the country.
In another orchestrated conspiracy to sabotage the victory of Obi at the polls, politicians who hate the idea of seeing the former governor of Anambra State to succeed the outgoing President Buhari in May 29, 2023 have allegedly sponsored some persons to approach the court to disqualify Obi on the basis of dual citizenship. As at the time of filing this report, there is subsisting court case challenging the candidature of Obi on the premise that he allegedly has dual citizenship, unfortunately, the Plaintiffs’ prayer at the court is frowned at by the constitution.
