News
Attempt to link me with ABN, anti-June 12, another failed project – Obi *We know who joined NADECO after lobbying Abacha
Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) has scoffed at the story linking him with membership of the ignoble Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), which was used to scuttle the June 12, 1993 presidential election, won by the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola, saying it was the handiwork of those bent on tarnishing his image.
Obi, who spoke through the Obi-Datti Media office, in a statement, signed by Diran Onifade, wondered how anyone could associate him with such an ignoble project, when he was never a politician and even an ardent supporter of the late business mogul, whose campaign messages he not only believed in but voted for.
In his reply to a particular article in the newspapers, entitled: Peter Obi and NADECO/Democracy Day the statement, said there was no iota of truth whatsoever in the narratives contained therein, as Obi was never directly or indirectly involved in the activities of the June 12 struggle, even though he supported and voted Abiola in 1993.
Stating that soon after which he relocated to the United Kingdom with his family where he ran a decent successful business that received encouragement and support from credible finance institutions all over the World because of the integrity and reputation he put in it, the statement, inferred that the authors of the story ought to know who actually joined the June 12 struggle after their failed bid to join the government of the late Sani Abacha.
The statement, read: “As of 1993, Obi was not a politician but he came to admire and vote for Abiola through late former Senate President Dr. Chuba Okadigbo whom he was his fan and admirer. Even while at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Obi was not into politics as he was more associated as a student entrepreneur.
“The reputation Obi took in the business that stood him out was what he, later on, took into politics. Before becoming Governor he never worked or held any government position. He never worked in Nigeria Ports Authority. The closest he came too late General Sani Abacha’s government was when his petition on port inefficiency and congestion made his colleagues in businesses draft into the special committee on port reform that lasted for just three months.
“Whatever status Obi is enjoying today within and outside the country is due to the high integrity he brought into what he does whether in business or politics. After eight years of outstanding governance to the people of Anambra state, where he created a sustainable environment for development by providing basic infrastructure to the people, access to rural agrarian communities, clearing inherited pension and salary arrears of over a 32billion, leaving office not owing any salary, pension, or contractors, and leaving office with huge investments, plus a savings of over $150m and 35millions of naira in various Nigerian banks, Obi stood out as good governance model using Human Development Index, HDI, and was outstanding in millennium Development Goals that attracted International agencies.
“His good governance delivery plus transparency in the deployment of public funds earned him the Governor of the Decade recognition as assessed by editors in the country. Since leaving office nearly 10 years ago, Obi continues to say that Anambra state has not bought him a bottle of water because he is not into the after-office largesse that most of his colleagues covet for themselves. This is because he refused to sign into law anything aimed at benefitting him personally.
“Before becoming a state Governor, Obi had emerged as the youngest Nigerian to chair a post-consolidation bank and served in various other firms as director where he was nominated based on his management and fiscal prudence reputation. This is the man some hirelings are making fruitless efforts to dent his image by fabricating lies against him including saying that he was against June 12 when he was not even resident in Nigeria during the June 12 imbroglio but living in the United Kingdom and could not have been involved as the faceless writer dubiously wanted the gullible public to believe.
“Such brazen sunken story ordinarily should not deserve our response but for the credulous public that May not be privy to these facts. And, because of the level of distortions of facts in the write-up, the mischievous story has no byline. Obi-Datti Media office is well aware of the renewed activities of some well-mobilized mercenaries given the arduous task of de-marketing the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
“The motive which is well known to us is to dent his profile and diminish his rising profile, which stands him out as one of the most outstanding Nigerian democrats today whose belief in the rule of law and non-violence policy remains remarkable.The writer, unable to appreciate the outstanding principles in Obi, tries to equate him with his Principal, who only joined the NADECO struggle as an afterthought and only after fruitless and failed lobby to serve in Gen. Sani Abacha’s government. Since the former Chief Security Officer CSO to the late military Head of state revealed this fact, nobody within his orbit ever tried denying it to avoid unearthing further concrete details.
“Unlike their sponsors, Peter Obi is riding high on his uncommon principles, which remain verifiable. The Obi-Datti Media office will therefore like to urge members of the reading public to treat this recent drivel as a malicious effigy of the author’s warped and clever-by-half imagination that should be consigned to the trash where it rightly belongs.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
“He is running in contempt of the court. Justice Lifu should be arrested because he is acting in contempt of the court which is a criminal act,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), demonstrated its angst over the court ruling on Monday, ordering its de-registration as a political party in Nigeria.
A furious Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, told his host while appearing as a guest on Monday’s edition of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television that the judge of the Abuja Federal High Court who gave the order was actually playing with fire because of the consequences.
Directly accusing him of playing the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the party spokesman, was emphatic that the plan would not work, as head or tail, ADC must be on the ballot in all the elections.
Hear him: “There is a Court of Appeal order saying don’t hear this case until October 27. So, on what basis? You can’t place something on nothing. The Court of Appeal said don’t act on this until I hear it on October 27. So, on what basis did he deliver the judgement
“So, for us in the African Democratic Congress, what we’re convinced and they know is what they have done has no leg to stand on legally. What they want to do is to create doubts in the minds of the people that this ADC has too many legal cases, can we actually run on this? And to distract us. But we’re not distracted.
“We’re very clear. It was in spite of all they have done since ADC came on board that we ran one of the best and one of the most comprehensive direct primaries in the history of democracy in Nigeria. So, we are strong enough to withstand this. And that’s why I’m saying that we are going to contest in 2027. We’re ADC. We don’t buckle before dictatorship.”
Stressing on the implication of the judgement, which also affected Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators, he said it portended grave danger.
He added: “We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.
“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC.”
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