The February 25, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly might have come and gone, one man stood out as the hero, the presidential candidate of Labour Party who was dismissed as a rabble rouser by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC coming from nowhere to be the poster boy of the election for flooring even the so-called established politicians in their various domains to become the touted winner of the exercise
By Miracle Egbo
Dr. Peter Gregory Obi, the two terms governor of Anambra State is one politician that has shown that politicians are meant to serve not to be served. He demonstrated that as the governor of Anambra State, he did not come to power to enslave the people by pilfering the common wealth of the people. He is the only governor living or dead who rejected all the financial benefits that go with public office holders. He left office, unlike his contemporaries, to leave a substantial amount of money in the coffers of the state he governed, owed no salaries of the workers for eight years, made sure that pensioners were not owed and did not borrow any dime for the massive infrastructure he brought to bear on the state for the number of years he held sway as the governor of the state.
In 2003 when he contested for the governorship of his state on the platform of All People Grand Alliance, APGA, all the big parties then dismissed him as a noisemaker who would not win even his polling unit. He proved bookmakers wrong then and won, but was denied by the electoral umpire then. He was not unfazed. He went ahead to the court to win and was made governor. Even when he was made governor by the court, the state House of Assembly dominated then by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP connived and impeached him, he went to court and won and did rule the state for eight years.
In the same vein, when the former governor of Anambra declared his intention to run for the office of the president of the country on the platform of Labour Party, LP, the big parties like the PDP, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and others dismissed him as a social media tiger who would not win up to one million votes in the 2023 presidential election. Facts on ground revealed that the man whom political pundits described as four people twitting in a room was to become a revolutionary movement across the nation that is changing how election should be conducted in the country. Besides, the same LP that political analysts as well as members of PDP, APC derisively called a party that had no structure and lacked presence in all the geo-political zones of the country, however ended up being noticed in all the nooks and crannies of the country to the point that even those who dismissed the party had no choice but to recognize that the party is party to beat because of the message Obi was bringing to bear on his campaign. He told Nigerians that new Nigeria is possible with his lofty programmes. According to him, he would move the country from consumption to production, and he meant it.
For nine months that he pitched his tent with the LP, Obi was able rally majority of Nigerians, especially the youths to buy into the ideal of making a new Nigeria possible and transforming the country from consumption to production. The same party that was said to have had no structures was able to upset the political apple in some states that were traditionally the home of APC and PDP. In Lagos for instance, what the opposition party, PDP was unable to do was done by LP by dislodging the ruling APC with a wide margin despite the concerted efforts by the hired thugs of the ruling APC to intimidate, maim and harass potential voters in the shambolic presidential election held across the nation on February 25, 2023. The same feat was repeated across the nation in all the strongholds of APC and PDP, LP was followed in droves by the electorate to confirm the ideal of making a new Nigeria possible.
In the northern axis of the country where Obi was not given a chance at all in the 2023 presidential election, again Obi floored the political pundits with his stellar performance by getting the required 25 per cent and even won some of the states in the northern part of the country. In the National Assembly election results released so far, LP has been able to retire some of the sit-tight legislators who have been in the National Assembly for the past sixteen years at a stretch. And there is every possibility that in the March 11, 2023 governorship poll in all the 28 states of the Federation, LP is going to stage an upset.
In all ramifications, Obi, the presidential candidate of LP has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is one politician who has brought credibility to electioneering by the messages he is dishing out to the electorate. And he is the only candidate that the masses contributed money to pilot his electioneering because they believe in his message. Since 1999 to date, Obi is the candidate who contested presidential election and had the electorate across party divides contributing to his cause with happiness and eagerness to see new Nigeria possible.
It is on record that history beckons with the decision of Obi to challenge the outcome of the presidential election which, facts on grounds tipped him to win, and from all indication he is set to make history as he did in Anambra State when he was denied his mandate in the fraudulent manner but challenged it and won. The same thing he is about to do in this case where he was evidently robbed in the presidential election across the nation and he has gone to court to challenge it.
Whatever is the case, Obi is the poster boy of the 2023 presidential election, no matter whichever divide you belong in the raging controversy of the fraud -infested presidential election in the entire nation.
Meanwhile,Obi, on Friday, secured leave of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja to have access to all the sensitive materials the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, deployed for the conduct of the presidential election that held on February 25.
The appellate court, which will sit as the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, equally ordered the electoral body to also grant the presidential candidate of the PDP, access to the election materials.
A panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh made the orders after it heard two separate ex-parte applications the two aggrieved presidential candidates filed alongside their political parties.
Cited as Respondents in the matter were INEC, the acclaimed winner of the presidential election, Bola Tinubu, as well as his party, the APC.
Both applications were predicated on Section146 (1) of the Electoral Act 2022, Paragraph 47 (1, 2 &3) of the First Schedule of the Electoral Act of 2022, as well as under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court as referenced by Section 6 (6) A & B of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
While Obi, in his application that was moved by his team of lawyers led by Mr Alex Ejesieme, SAN, sought six principal reliefs, on the other hand, Atiku’s lawyer, Mr Adedamola Faloku, sought seven prayers from the tribunal.
Specifically, the applicants urged the court to compel INEC to allow them to obtain documents in its custody that were used for the presidential election.
They maintained that the requested documents would aid their petition against the outcome of the presidential contest that was declared in favour of the candidate of the APC, Tinubu.
The electoral umpire had declared Tinubu of the APC as the winner of the presidential poll, ahead of 17 other candidates that contested the election.
According to INEC, Tinubu scored a total of 8,794,726 votes to defeat Atiku who polled a total of 6,984,520 votes and Obi of the LP who came third with a total of 6,101,533 votes.
Both PDP and LP had since rejected the outcome of the election and vowed to challenge it in court.
