A Labour Party chieftain, Tanko Yunusa, has defended the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, after a video of him reading a message he claimed was from a “Tinubu group” went viral.
The message Obi read in the video was an anti-Igbo message warning people who are Yoruba against voting for him. The former Anambra State governor was also recorded to have complained about Tinubu’s health, amongst others.
Yunusa, however, backed Obi, saying the video did not emanate from him.
“I am so sure that that video was not even made by him (Obi). I am 100 per cent sure because he is not that kind of person neither is he an ethnic person. His interest is in the Nigerian project,” Yunusa said Monday on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
The Labour Party chieftain added that Obi viewed all presidential candidates as his senior brothers and won’t engage in any personal attacks with anybody, as he is focused on an issue-based campaign.
Yunusa accused the opposition of being interested in stoking the embers of ethnic tension and divisions.
He said, “Let me quote Comrade Peter Peter Obi this afternoon when he was speaking: he said the presidential candidates, some of them are his senior brothers. He has so much given them respect as Nigeria’s leaders. He has never and will never derogate anybody, especially in the position of leadership.
“He has always been interested in issue-based politics and campaigns, not mudslinging, not backstabbing, not even mentioning people’s name.
“We are aware that there are also people who are trying to pin the issue of religion and tribal sentiments on our candidate and we have always tried to run away from it.
“Peter Obi will not engage in any personal attack with anybody. So, I doubt the veracity of that particular statement they are making reference to,” he said.
The Labour Party chieftain also said the party has unveiled online registration and free membership for all those who are willing to join ‘Obidient Movement’.
Yunusa further reiterated that Obi has not opened any account for any election donation.
Spokesperson for APC Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, in a statement earlier on Monday, criticised Obi for his comments in the video.
He said, “We find it utterly disgusting, demeaning and insulting to the sensitivities and sensibilities of Nigerians for a Presidential Candidate of the ilk of Peter Obi to make such a video parroting a spurious, unverified and sham message that has the potential of deepening our faultlines as a nation and further promoting ethnic tensions. This is completely unbecoming of a Presidential Candidate that hopes to unite this country.
“Again, we note that Mr OBJ’s latest stunt is consistent with what is now widely perceived as his adoption of hate as campaign strategy, having consistently failed to rein in his known and identifiable supporters, mostly domiciled on social media, threatening political opponents with violence and death.
“We are also aware that plans are afoot by Mr Peter Obi to fake an assassination attempt on himself and hire Labour Party boys dressed in APC caps and T-shirts to attack some Labour Party offices. It is all part of the “US Plan”. It is the first in a series of incendiary actions planned by this ill-prepared but desperate candidate,” Keyamo added.
