Mr Omoyele Sowore, the presidential flag bearer of the African Action Congress (AAC), has said Peter Obi of the Labour Party is not a threat to his 2023 ambition.
He stated this on Friday night during an interview on Channels TV’s show, “Politics Today.”
According to Sowore, the former governor of Anambra is not “new to the rotten system” and is part of the “old system”.
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians of his preparedness to tackle the challenges facing the country if elected in the 2023 general election.
The former Lagos state governor who stated this yesterday at the unveiling of the Tinubu/Shettima Door to Door Group, noted that all it takes to fix the problems of Nigeria is a focused leadership armed with competence and capacity.
Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, the former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, on Saturday called on Nigerians to vote for the presidential candidate of any political party that believed in the unity of Nigeria.
Jonathan made this call on the lecture series to mark the 80th birthday of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, which took place in Owerri, with the theme “Igbo Quest for Nigeria’s Unity.”
According to Jonathan, “Iwuanyanwu is a man of many colours and a meticulous investor whose positive story would guide the leaders of the country. Iwuanyanwu is a man of victory and his songs tell a story he has continued to place unity above parochial interest.”
Recall that Naija News earlier reported that the National Working Committee (NWC), headed by the chairman of the party, Ralph Nwosu, had suspended Kachikwu from the party for alleged anti-party activities.
However, reacting to the suspension In a statement on Saturday in Abuja, Kachikwu said that he still remains the presidential candidate of the party.
Kachikwu asserted that Nwosu was responsible for the crack in the party.
He said: “For those who do not know, Nwosu is the longest serving chairman of a political party in the history of Nigeria.
“He has been serving for the past 17 years, you must understand that this is contrary to the provision of the constitution of the ADC which says that a chairman of the ADC can hold a position maximum for consecutive periods of two terms of four years each.
“For some reasons best known to INEC, we do not know how Nwosu was able to hold on to that position for the past 17 years.
“He (Mr Nwosu) reached me directly and indirectly pleading for us to extend his tenure.
“Since his tenure has lapsed it is only the National Executive Council (NEC), made up of state chairmen of the party, which has the power to run the affairs of the party and take decisions.
“That was why the elements behind my purported suspension sent out an unsigned document to the media since none of them has any mandate to take any legal action on behalf of the ADC having ended their tenure since August 28.”
The embattled ADC flag bearer argued that his purported suspension was due to his stance that the party constitution must be upheld.
“I told them that as the presidential candidate of the party I will do everything to uphold the constitution of the ADC,”Kachikwu said.
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.
