Peter Obi unknown, unpopular in 22 states of Nigeria: FG

Peter Obi, a former Anambra governor and the flag bearer of the Labour Social gathering thought-about a “frontrunner” within the February 25 presidential election, is “unknown” and unpopular in 22 states of Nigeria, the federal authorities has claimed.

“As an example, not solely that the candidate will need to have the plurality of votes, he should even have one-quarter of the whole vote solid in at the very least 25 states of the federation,” mentioned the federal authorities’s data minister Lai Mohammed. “Once you have a look at the outcomes, solely the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, met these necessities.”

The minister added, “The Peoples Democratic Social gathering (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, got here in need of these as a result of he got here second and had 25 per cent in 21 states. Obi got here far behind with 25 per cent in 15 states. Which means that Obi, who was wrongly adjudged as a frontrunner within the election, was nearly unknown and unpopular in 22 states.”

Mr Mohammed, on a publicity blitz abroad to show that the presidential ballot was free, honest and credible, said this in London throughout his engagements with some worldwide media organisations and assume tanks, together with The Economist, The Guardian and African Confidential, and Royal African Society.

“I additionally defined to them that a lot of them have been blind to the constitutional necessities for a presidential candidate to win an election in Nigeria,” the minister famous.

Throughout his conferences with them, the Nigerian minister mentioned some commentators had the flawed mindset that the Labour Social gathering and its Mr Obi would win the election, primarily based on the hyped actions of the occasion and their supporters on social media, in addition to the outcomes of varied opinion polls which have been unrepresentative of the state of affairs in Nigeria.

“In the middle of my interactions, notably with The Economist, I referred them to an earlier article they wrote, during which they rated the Labour Social gathering presidential candidate because the frontrunner within the polls,” Mr Mohammed defined. “I defined to them that there was no manner a presidential candidate who has no political unfold and a grassroots base may win an election in Nigeria.”

(NAN)