JUST IN: APGA should adopt Obi as presidential candidate —Don

An Awka-based political scientist, Dr. Emmanuel Obiano, has appealed to the national leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, to adopt the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, as its candidate for the February 25 presidential election.

Obiano urged the APGA leadership to adopt the former Anambra State governor in order to replicate what the party did in 2015, when it adopted as its candidate, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was then a candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He made the appeal in a statement he signed and made available to journalists in Awka on Saturday.

The statement read in part, “With only a few weeks to the commencement of the 2023 general elections, this is a period for intense political discuss by all and sundry, whether politician or political observer. As the election dates draw nearer, the intensity of political discourse increases.

“Like other Nigerians, I have been engaged in political discussions at various levels. With confidence, I have marshaled out my points, giving in-depth analysis as a trained political scientist, certified strategist and practicing consultant.

“With the privilege of having had real-life experience of Nigeria’s early post-independent period, hardly has any issue of Nigeria’s political-economy unnerved me, except one, at present.

“In 2015, APGA, which is synonymous with Anambra adopted as its presidential candidate an Ijaw man from Bayelsa State (Goodluck Jonathan) who was then the bonafide candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.”

Questioning why APGA had not, by now, adopted Obi, who hails from the state as its candidate for the 2023 presidential elections, Obiano said support for Obi should not be obstructed or sabotaged saying history would remember their decision.

“Why has APGA not similarly adopted as its presidential candidate in 2023 Mr Peter Obi of Labour Party who is a son of the soil of Anambra State as it did with Jonathan’s PDP in 2015? If that will be done, when will it be, considering that the presidential election is close at hand?

“This two-angled question is pregnant with meanings. As I contemplate on the possible ‘why’ and ‘when’, I am unnerved by the possible implications, especially the implication for equity and history. I flinch to imagine it be recorded in history against us that we adopted an Ijaw man from Bayelsa State but failed to adopt our blood and kin from the same Anambra State. It will amount to monumental betrayal, someone already called it ‘desecration’, if this is allowed to happen. The God of our land and our ancestors are watching.

“I solemnly advise the leadership and household of APGA to set aside some past issues and trivialities and do the needful by immediately adopting Mr Peter Obi as its presidential candidate for the February 2023 presidential election as it did for Goodluck Jonathan in 2015.”

Continuing he said, “The Southern and Middle Belt Forum has adopted Peter Obi. Ohanaeze has adopted Peter Obi. Many other progressive groups, even in the North and West have adopted Peter Obi. We cannot be the proverbial ‘nkem di iche’ (exception) in this matter. APGA and the Labour Party can cooperate and negotiate support and concessions in other senatorial, representative, House of Assembly, and local government positions.

“We must learn to face the direction of Waziri Ibrahim’s ‘politics without bitterness’ for a healthier and more rewarding progressive political development. An antelope that is pregnant is more gainful for the hunter. Tomorrow is so long. A new face of Ndi Igbo in Nigeria is possible, and is about to come. Let’s support it, not obstruct it or sabotage it.”