By Miftaudeen Raji

The 2023 presidential election is less than 177 days away and the momentum is growing for the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi. Will it be enough to pull a surprise victory in the 2023 presidential election? It becomes imperative to examine what else Obi can do to make such a victory might happen.

As a matter of fact, Obi needs to win to prove that his millions of online-savvy supporters are real and up to the task. The criteria for winning the political contest are always in place, but the challenge is how to seize the opportunity to take power at the centre.

As the September 28 flag-off date for presidential campaign approaches, the Obi-dients need to sustain the existing momentum tempo perfectly till February 2023 to be able to spring surprises at the poll.

Until recently, many underestimated Obi’s dexterity in comparative socio-economics; his will to bring a change in governance; and the support he enjoys from young Nigerians. Many leaders have claimed to have achieved a lot while trying to fix the problem of Nigeria, but obvious metrics suggested they have sorely failed.

The Labour Party candidate already stands a chance of winning the 2023 presidential election, but here are some few other things that he still needs to put into consideration.

Harnessing the diaspora support base

Already, Obi galvanizing the campaign with outreach to the diaspora community, with series of visits to the US, Toronto, Germany and still counting.

Obi needs to accelerate engagement with the diaspora community to garner more support from groups, business community, students network and professionals and committees to spearhead more initiatives for the Party and Obi presidency.

He needs to interface with patriotic Nigerians clamouring to contribute to the success of the party and the growth of the course. But, an integral part of the course is the necessity to have the earmarked programmes well coordinated.

The party has a huge role to play in identifying well-meaning Nigerians from the place of integrity to drive this project to achieve the desired goal.

Raising momentum for fund raising :

To meet the needs of a perceived structure of Obi built around 100 million hungry Nigerians and 35 million unemployed persons, including unpaid pensioners, funding is key to provide the enabling resources for these structures to carry the burden of national election for the Labour party in 2023.

But, to achieve this goal, the party has set action in motion for Obi, with the National Chairman of Labour party, Bar. Julius Abure recently inaugurating an eleven-man diaspora committee to generate about $150m, N100bn crowdfunding for the Presidential Campaign of Peter Obi.

While the party and Obi supporters keep raising money to fund campaign and election operations ahead of 2023, stakeholders have to ensure adequate monitoring of the activities of the organized fundraising activities and donations to the party.