The Labour Party (LP) has dismissed the speculation that its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, could be tempted to work with President Bola Tinubu’s government of national unity.
The party’s leadership said on Tuesday that Obi was focused on reclaiming his “stolen mandate” from the Supreme Court, where he has challenged the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, and the National Legal Adviser, Kehinde Edun, stated this in separate interviews with journalists.
They said that there was no way Obi, who won the popular vote in the election, would join forces with Tinubu, who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The party’s position came six days after Obi shaded the president on Arise TV’s ‘Morning Show’, following the controversy surrounding his academic records at Chicago State University.
Obi had said that any leader who falsifies his credentials or age cannot be trusted to do the right thing and is unfit to lead the people.
He had also said that the issue of qualification was an issue of honour and integrity, and that leaders who live a falsified life cannot do the right thing.
A few days after Obi’s scathing remark, his party also admonished the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, not to drag the LP candidate into his feud with the president.
The party was reacting to an earlier call by Atiku, for Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso to join his crusade in exposing the alleged dirty secrets of the president.
The reaction of LP was seen by some people as a possibility that Obi would prefer to work with Tinubu than team up with his former PDP ally, Atiku.
But the national legal adviser of LP insisted that such a figment of imagination can never come to reality, reiterating that Obi has already made his stance known.
He said, “I think Obi has something he is pursuing, especially when we are sure we won the election. So it will be out of place for us to now say we want to work with this government. As far as LP is concerned, we are waiting for the Supreme Court to set aside the decision of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal that will pronounce Obi as the winner. That’s what we are waiting for.
“This is why we cannot be talking about Obi, somebody who is the owner of the mandate, working with somebody who is a pretender to the office. Until we see to the end of this case at the Supreme Court, it is not over.”
Sharing the same sentiment, the party’s spokesman also insisted that the LP candidate can’t be distracted by such a notion as he is presently focused on reclaiming his ‘stolen mandate’ from the apex court.
“We are still in the process of reclaiming our stolen mandate through our appeal at the Supreme Court. There is no way our candidate can be seen working for this government. For now, he is focused on the appeal at the apex,” he said.
