No Going Back On Obi’s Endorsement, PANDEF Declares

•LP campaign council knocks Tinubu, El-Rufai

Emameh Gabriel and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), has asked Nigerians to disregard a statement credited to a purported Youth Wing of the Forum, championed by one Vincent Oyibode, which challenged PANDEF over its adoption Peter Obi as its presidential candidate.

National Publicity Secretary of PANDEF, Ken Robinson, in a statement, urged the public to disregard the reported rejection of Obi’s endorsement by the so-called youths, saying the youths’ action was borne out of infantile musings.

In another development, the Director General of the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Council, Balogun Akin Osuntokun, has described the infamous pronouncement of the “Emilokan” principle and his ongoing war against currency swap by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, as recipe for anarchy.

However, addressing its alleged withdrawal of support from Obi, Robbinson said in the first place, PANDEF did not have “wings”, and that the forum maintained a consolidated framework at the national, state, and local government levels.

“Furthermore, it is important to underscore that the said Mr. Vincent Oyibode is a serving Commissioner in the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).

“It will, therefore, suffice to conclude that the buffoonery is sponsored by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa. With the intent to deride the leadership of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, for not supporting his ill-fated vice-presidential ambition, but rather upholding the cherished and fundamental principles of fairness, equity, and justice.

“For the avoidance of doubt, PANDEF stands by the endorsement of Peter Obi by our National Leader and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, and the affirmation by the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), done in Abuja, on the 2nd of February 2023.

“Without equivocation, PANDEF’s endorsement of Peter Obi is sacrosanct! It is significant to note that the endorsement of Peter Obi as our preferred presidential candidate for the 2023 election was the culmination of a process that started in 2021.

“Recall that on the 30th of May 2021, following the Asaba declaration by the 17 Southern Governors, the Southern Middle Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) met in Abuja and re-echoed the position of the Southern Governors.

“SMBLF insisted that the Principle of Zoning and Power Rotation between the North and the South has been the basis on which the Nigerian Federation, has since Independence, been premised.

“And, further insisted that, in observance of the principles of justice, equity, fairness, and political inclusiveness, the South, and particularly, the South East Zone, should produce the next President of the Country in 2023.

“More importantly, after months of consultation at various levels, PANDEF, in its full complement, met with the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in Yenagoa, on 23rd December 2022. A rounded presentation on the concerns and expectations of the people of the Niger Delta was handed to the candidate.

“And the vision statement His Excellency, Peter Obi, shared at the occasion, as it relates to making Nigeria more productive, using the rich resource endowment in every part of the country; curbing waste and fighting corruption; as well as, creating jobs for our teeming youths through innovative initiatives resonated with the ideals and vision of PANDEF.

“We have nothing personal against any of the other presidential candidates in this Saturday’s election. However, it is our well-considered conclusion that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) is the best choice.

“He represents the Nigerian conscience, moral probity, generational hope, and redemption epiphany, among others, and remains the answer to the many problems confronting the country.

“It is rather most unfortunate and shameful that at a time when well-meaning Nigerians, and particularly, patriotic youths, are zealously working to enthrone a new Nigeria, some inadvisable elements are erring because of ephemeral perks. PANDEF will not be distracted by the misdemeanor, but would instead intensify efforts to ensure Peter Obi’s victory in the Niger Delta region,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Osuntokun, who made the allegations yesterday, said since the “emilokan” pronouncement, Nigeria has been subjected to the full measure of utter selfishness and duplicity inherent in the concept, expressing utmost disappointment for the APC presidential candidate and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State against the merits of the currency swap, which he said Nigerians must rise up defend.

Osuntokun, in a statement titled: The Audacity of Duplicity, said, Tinubu, “at his ill-starred appearance at the Chatham House, Tinubu was heard on open mic urging his followers not to take prisoners in his obsessive desperation to win the forthcoming Presidential election. ‘Snatch the ballot boxes’. He urged his followers.”

He said regardless of the merits or demerits of the currency redesign policy, Tinubu has done Nigerians the favour of intimating them of how he intends to “snatch the ballot boxes”, and that, “The only logical inference from this self-identification is that more than any other competitor, he had planned to outrightly purchase voters at the presidential election-as you buy a goat at the cattle market.

“In a follow up action and set on a treasonable trajectory, the general officer commanding, GOC, the emilokan troops, El-Rufai the diminutive virtually declared the Republic of Kaduna State,” quoting him as saying, “For the avoidance of doubt, all the old and new notes shall remain in use as legal tender in Kaduna State until the Supreme Court of Nigeria decides otherwise.

“I therefore appeal to all residents of Kaduna State to continue to use the old and new notes side by side without any fear. The Kaduna State Government and its agencies shall seal any facility that refuses to accept the old notes as legal tender and prosecute the owners. If need be, we shall take further consequential actions according to the law.”

He said, “If he had responded with a minuscule measure of the alacrity (he has demonstrated on the potential inability to subvert the oncoming elections with cash) to these prior inter-ethnic sectarian crisis, thousands of lives would have been saved. Rather, he was busy radicalising and stoking the fire of bigotry and parochial chauvinism.

“If you have a president who violated the constitution, what you do is initiate impeachment proceedings at the National Assembly, not embark on internal insurrection and rebellion. We urge the Nigerian public to shine their eyes very well and not allowed themselves to be used as cannon folders by duplicitous politicians lest they become unwitting victims of sham populism and rank opportunism.”

Similarly, the National Woman Leader of Labour Party, Dudu Mammam Manuga, has urged the Nigerian women to vote for the presidential candidate of the party, Peter Obi, and his vice, Ahmed Datti, for massive inclusion of women if elected as president and vice this weekend.

Manuga made the call yesterday in Abuja at a conference with the Nigerian women, themed: ‘Operation Remop the Final Push: Birthing the New Nigeria’.

Re-emphasising the fact that women in Nigeria have always suffered relegation, she said the Obi presidential manifesto clearly spelt out a place for women if he emerges, saying, “Let us understand that women in Nigeria have always been relegated to the background. Women have not been given their space, their space that they need to occupy in different spheres of life.”