Labour Party Kicks as Onanuga Accuses Obi’s Supporters of Plotting Anti-Tinubu Protests

*We’re not involved in ‘EndBadGovernance’ protests, party insists 

*Allegation orchestrated to arrest Obi, says media office 

*INEC denies monitoring LP’s convention that produced Abure

Deji Elumoye and Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The Labour Party (LP) has distanced itself and its presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi from ‘EndBadGovernace’ and ‘Tinubu Must Go’ protests being planned nationwide against President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
While the party described the allegation by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, that Obi’s supporters were behind the planned protest as a figment of his imagination, the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR) said the unsubstantiated allegation was being orchestrated to arrest Obi.

This is just as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that it did not monitor the National Convention of the LP that took place on March 27, 2024, at Nnewi, Anambra State, which produced Mr. Julius Abure as the national chairman.
In a long post on his verified X handle, Onanuga yesterday accused Obi’s supporters of sponsoring the planned nationwide protests against Tinubu’s administration.
While listing the measures carried out by Tinubu’s government to address the cost-of-living crisis and ensure economic recovery, Onanuga alleged that the same individuals who hijacked the 2020 #EndSARS protests were behind the planned demonstrations, spreading hashtags like ‘EndBadGovernance’ and ‘Tinubu Must Go.’

The special adviser also insisted that Obi should be held responsible if the protests turn into anarchy.
Onanuga further identified those he described as some key individuals, including a faceless internet radio station owner and a Labour Party chieftain, as being involved in the planned protests.
He warned that the protesters’ call for “revolution” and “ending an elected government” was a “civilian coup” which amounts to high treason.
The presidential adviser urged security agencies to take action against those threatening the country’s stability.
According to him, the protest planners were also the same people who instigated the destructive ENDSARS protest in Nigeria in October 2020, which was hijacked by IPOB.

“#EndSARS began as a genuine protest by youths against the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, notorious for its high-handedness,” he said.
He alleged that two years after #EndSARS, the IPOB and the gullible innocents joined the Labour Party in 2022 to support Obi.
Onanuga said he had been on the trail of one of the protest planners, who claimed to have an internet radio station, PTM100.88 Abuja.
He identified one FS Yusuf, a chieftain of the LP and another unidentified individual who goes by the pseudonym “Peter Obi’s First Son” on X, as some of the planners of the protest.

According to him, another individual holding the inscription` ‘Certificate Forger Not My President,’ with a photo of Obi as an inset is also one of the planners, adding that only Obi’s supporters will be talking about certificate forgery long after the Supreme Court dismissed the allegation.
Onanuga alleged that one of the posts contained a video showing a teenager, who is said to be in the North, printing T-shirts emblazoned with “EndBadGovernance in Nigeria 2024′.

He also disclosed that there was also a retweeted post by a failed and frustrated politician in Lagos State.
“In it, he (the failed politician) refers to his earlier post urging people ‘to identify APC members, sponsors, supporters, enablers, thugs, promoters, and appointees.’ The police and DSS ought to have arrested the man for making a brazen threat to political opponents,” Onanuga added.
He also listed the federal government’s efforts to address the cost-of-living crisis, including over 100 per cent increase in minimum wage, student loans, and palliatives such as food distribution.

Obi, LP Not Involved in ‘EndBadGovernance’ Protest, Party Insists

But in a swift reaction, the LP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said there was no truth in Onanuga’s allegation, describing the allegation as a figment of his imagination.    
“We say that there is no truth in that and the tweet is just the author’s figment of his imagination.
“Labour Party is known for being a very peaceful party and it has at several occasions asked its followers to follow peace at all times. We are not known as a lawless group as was evident in the aftermath of the last general election. It is therefore delusional for anyone to link our supporters to the planned protest. The Labour Party, Peter Obi and our supporters are not planning any protests.

“However, peaceful protests all over the world are initiated and executed by the people and not by the opposition. No opposition has any control over protests. Popular protests such as in Kenya, Egypt and several other places were a direct registration of the people’s frustration against the government. The opposition has the right to protest and it is within their constitutional right.
“It is therefore puerile for the government or anyone for that matter to begin to look for who to blame for the bad governance that is being witnessed in Nigeria today. Nigeria can still get it right if the right policies are initiated. We also advise that some aides of the presidency must be cautioned to avoid incendiary pronouncements capable of combusting the nation, all in the name of playing politics.”

Allegation Orchestrated to Arrest Obi, Says Media Office

On its part, the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR) has described Onanuga’s claim as a wild, wicked and baseless allegation.
The spokesman of POMR, Mr. Yunusa Tanko, said in a statement issued yesterday that he gathered from a reliable authority that these unsubstantiated allegations were being orchestrated to arrest Obi, limit his freedom and association and stop his propagation for good governance, which they find injurious to their lavish lifestyle.
“Peter Obi by his mien in and out of political office has not in any way shown or been associated with violence even in the most obvious provocations.
“He has always shown even during the electioneering that he is issue-driven as he carries on without calling anybody’s name. POMR is also aware that multiple attack dogs have been hired and strategically deployed to ensure that Obi does not enjoy the ear of the Nigerian populace who are keen on hearing his voice on issues.

“These spine doctors and hirelings, to justify their pay, indulge in all kinds of falsehood ostensibly to distract Obi and confuse Nigerians who already see Obi as a suiting balm in the current turbulent political and economic environment.
“All the problems real and imagined created by their insensitivity and lavish lifestyle they have curiously tried to link to Obi. Notable challenges of the administration which are a consequence of their actions and inactions like fuel subsidy fallouts, growing poverty in the land, inflation, nepotism and unresolved historical conflicts, among others, they blame all on Obi,” Tanko explained.
Tanko urged Nigerians to ignore the Presidency’s cheap blackmail, adding that Obi and the Obidient family all over the country and in the diaspora would not be cowed or be made to lose focus.

INEC Denies Monitoring LP’s Convention that Produced Abure

In another development, INEC stated that it did not monitor the National Convention of the LP that took place on March 27 at Nnewi, Anambra State
In a letter dated July 18, 2024, which was signed by the acting National Secretary of INEC, Harilu Aminu and addressed to Steve Adehi (SAN), the commission stated that it did not monitor the Nnewi convention of the party.
Adehi had written to INEC to obtain the true status of the Julius Abure-led party’s national convention and also requested the Certified True Copy of the convention’s report and the party’s constitution domiciled in INEC.

In response to the letter, the commission said: “The Certified True Copy of the Labour Party’s Constitution has been forwarded to your firm earlier.
“Regrettably the commission did not monitor the Labour Party Convention of 27 March 2024 and cannot therefore report on the convention.”
But in his reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of the LP, Ifoh said in a statement that INEC did not say that it had rejected the outcome of the convention.
He stated that in compliance with the Electoral Act of 2022, the party had on December 4, 2023, notified INEC of its intention to conduct its national convention on March 27, 2024.

According to him, it was not mandatory that INEC must be present during the internal party exercise.
Ifoh cited Article 82 (2) of the Electoral Act, which states: “The commission may, with or without prior notice to the political party attend and observe any convention, congress, conference or meeting which is convened by a political party for (a) electing members of its executive committees or other governing bodies.
“So, INEC’s inability to monitor the convention did not in any way invalidate the internal party activity. INEC has also continued to respect the laws of the land despite pressure from certain quarters to compromise its civic responsibility,” he said.