The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has responded to the standard-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 election, Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu had mocked Obi’s Labour Party and other parties fielding candidates in the Osun governorship election, describing them as “mushroom parties”, while adding that members of “Labour Party will labour to death.”
Tinubu made the condescending remarks while speaking to a capacity crowd inside a stadium in Osogbo, at an APC rally organised ahead of the vote.
Responding on Wednesday, July 13, at a rally organised by the LP in Osun, Obi said Tinubu’s comments came from a place of hate.
“I listened to our national chairman when he said that somebody said that they can labour till death. When they talk like that, when they show you hatred, Labour Party will show them love. There is dignity in labour,” Obi said.
Obi also urged residents of Osun to vote for Yusuf Lasun, the LP’s governorship candidate, because the party is offering a better deal.
“Vote for Labour Party so that your children can have jobs. Vote for people that will work for you.
“We want to change Nigeria and the only way we can change Nigeria is to remove all these people who have put Nigeria where it is for the past 23 years. This is time for them to go.
“They are owing salaries, pensions; and those that are working hard are not being paid. But this will stop once you vote Labour Party on Saturday.
“Vote for Labour Party; vote for the future of your children. Vote for the candidate that will be committed to a better Osun state.
“We are going to introduce you to a governor who will be committed to better Osun state, and that is what we want,” Obi said.
The Osun governorship election holds on Saturday, July 16, 2022, with Akin Ogunbiyi (Accord), Gboyega Oyetola (APC), Lasun Yusuf (Labour Party), Ademola Adeleke (PDP), Oyegoke Omigbodun (SDP), as the leading contenders.
Oyetola of the APC is the incumbent governor of the state and he is seeking re-election.