After a video made and circulated by the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, in which he accused a group supporting the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of spreading a WhatsApp message calling on the Yoruba not to vote for him, the Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described him is an irredeemable ethnic bigot.
The APC described the video as “offensive, hate-filled”.
In a statement signed on Monday by Director, Media and Public Affairs and Official Spokesperson of the APC Presidential Campaign Council and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, the party described Obi as attempting to repeat the same failed campaign strategy the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deployed in 2019 when he was running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The APC said it was obvious Obi has nothing to tell Nigerians about his campaign or achievements as Governor of Anambra state other than to promote ethnic bigotry and victim card.
The statement read “We wish to state that it is obvious Mr. Peter Obi deliberately concocted that message and circulated that offensive video himself as a campaign strategy in order to come across as a victim of some kind of ethnic agenda, whereas in truth, he is the real agent provocateur of an ethnic agenda.
“As the takeoff date for campaigns draw closer, Mr. Peter Obi has suddenly realised that Nigerians are beginning to burst his bubbles as his messages are bereft of ideas, depth and clear-cut solutions to our challenges. His messages are only full of false data and highfalutin jargons in what is clearly a disingenuous ruse to distract a scrutiny of his empty records as a Governor of Anambra State and nothing else. Hence his easy recourse to playing ethnic card and fanning the ember of hate.
“We find it utterly disgusting, demeaning and insulting to the sensitivities and sensibilities of Nigerians for a Presidential Candidate of the ilk of Peter Obi to make such a video parroting a spurious, unverified and sham message that has the potential of deepening our faultlines as a nation and further promoting ethnic tensions. This is completely unbecoming of a Presidential Candidate that hopes to unite this country. Again, we note that Mr. OBJ’s latest stunt is consistent with what is now widely perceived as his adoption of hate as campaign strategy, having consistently failed to rein in his known and identifiable supporters, mostly domiciled on social media, threatening political opponents with violence and death.
“Moreover, here is a man known as a sectional irredentist, with public records showing him expelling Nigerians from a section of the country from Anambra State while he was Governor and has decidedly resorted to ethno-religious card in his activities and messaging thus far, now accusing his better of being an ethnic champion. What a supreme irony!” Keyamo said.
The disputed message as Obi in the video read: “Yoruba shine your eyes o, if you vote for Peter Obi, it is automatically voting for seaports in South South and South East. The Igbos will stop coming to Lagos State to invest, rather they will go to Delta and Rivers States, they may even stop building houses in Lagos. It will affect a lot of Yorubas. Yoruba ro nu o.”