The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has thrown his weight behind the call by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Tinubu, for the campaign, whenever it starts, to be based on issues and not personality.
What Peter Obi said: The LP presidential flag bearer, who spoke through his media adviser, Mr. Valentine Obienyem, said the statement by APC advising candidates to “desist from spreading lies, malice and denigrating other candidates,” exactly mirrored what he had propagated over the years.
According to him, if supporters of the candidates were mindful of this, some articles published in some newspapers against Obi would not have been published, including those with offensive titles.
Why Peter Obi had to talk to Obidients: Obi was reacting to the call by Tinubu, through his campaign organization, for the candidates and their supporters to base their electioneering on issues that would advance the growth, progress and stability of Nigeria.
What Tinubu said to Peter Obi: Tinubu had appealed to his Labour Party counterpart, Obi, to caution his supporters (Obidients) from peddling falsehood, malice and denigrating him and other presidential candidates.
Tinubu called on the former Anambra State Governor to rein in his supporters to pave the way for an issue-based campaign that will advance the growth, progress, and stability of Nigeria ahead of the 2023 election.
Why Tinubu had to say these things: The Tinubu Campaign Organisation made the appeal to Obi after investigating the origin of the fake report and found that it emanated from an Obi Support group.
How it all started: A post on Facebook claimed that Ghana President, Nana Akufo-Addo, had written a letter to Tinubu urging him to support Obi and take care of his health.
Nana Akufo-Addo's side of the story: The President of Ghana had via his official Twitter account dismissed the fake news as a product of deliberate mischief with the intent to deceive the public.
Peter Obi defends Obidients: Obienyem said that while Obi was not bothered about the authenticity of the gist, it was wickedness to link them to his supporters, insisting that any publication from Obi’s group was always properly signed and the place it was coming from very clearly spelt out.
Peter Obi on IPOB: Obi also described as the height of mischief, the attempt to link his campaign to IPOB.
In Peter Obi's words: “We know that things are not well in Nigeria. We know of the agitations in different parts of the country, our principal has always said what he would do with such organizations to stop their agitation and bring then back to Nigeria as one happy family.
“Rather than others to say what they will do, they are creating more problems by trying vainly and wickedly to link their follow contestants to some of those organisations.”
Why Obi is Happy: Obienyem expressed happiness that Nigerians knew the truth and that such gimmicks used to deceive them in the past would no longer work.
He said that right from the period Obi was Governor, he was not known for attacking people or building lies against others, adding that Obi’s disposition was contrary to those of some of his opponents, whom, he said, actually originated most of the fake news, published them under false names and turned round to ascribe them to Obi or his supporters.