A media aide to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu StateEmmanuel Jonathan, has announced his support for the Labor Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, ahead of the 2023 general election.
Mr. Jonathan, the special assistant to the governor on new media, disclosed this in a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday
Mr. Ugwuanyi is among the five governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who were discredited in the name of G-5.
The G-5 is chaired by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Apart from Messrs. Wike and Ugwuanyi, other members of the G-5 are Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State and his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde.
The G-5 happened after the PDP presidential election where Atiku Abubakar beat Mr. Wike and others to become the party’s presidential candidate.
The group has charge the resignation of PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to pave the way for a southerner to lead the party to achieve “regional balance”.
The governor’s argument is that Mr. Ayu and Atiku are from northern Nigeria.
Although the five governors have not announced the presidential candidates they will support in the 2023 general elections, there is speculation that the G-5 governors may support Mr. Obi.
However, there has been speculation of late that the governors have decided to support Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
Mr. Jonathan has become the first political official in Governor Ugwuanyi’s government to openly endorse the LP candidate.
He is expected to lead one of Mr. Obi’s campaign groups, the Presidential Obi/Datti Apostles Campaign Support Group.
‘Why I ditched my heart for Obi’
Mr. Jonathan explained in a statement that he can no longer remain silent in the face of a bad leader, taking care of those who have voted to increase their voice in support of the presidential ambitions of Peter Obi / Datti Yusuf Baba-Ahmed.
“Nigeria is a country that has suffered from incompetent leadership over the years leading many innocent Nigerians to a hellish state of living.
“The only panacea to overcome this situation is to respect the words: Truth, capacity, justice, equity and justice when making choices for those who will pilot the affairs of Nigeria in the next four years, which Peter Obi / Datti Baba-Ahmed aspires to epitomizes the president,” he said.
He stated that he remains a member of the PDP, despite expressing his support for the LP candidate.
Grouse with PDP, APC
The PDP leader blamed the party for violating the zoning rules that favor the emergence of the Nigerian president of South East extraction in 2023.
He said it was “worrying” that the PDP was one of the major political parties that ignored the zoning arrangement, which he called, “the antidote to peaceful cohesion” by choosing Atiku, a northerner, as its candidate.
“This is because they failed to appreciate words, truth, capacity, equity and justice, and the understanding of a conventional gentleman on the ground, which power should usually play for Southern Nigeria and focus specifically on the part that has not occupied the presidential seat,” he said.
Mr. Jonathan criticized the APC for failing to select its candidate from the Southeast, and having a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
Tinubu, a southern Muslim, chose Kashim Shettima, former Governor of Borno State, a northern Muslim, as his 2023 presidential running mate.
The ticket has sparked widespread criticism across the country, with various groups including some APC leaders also criticized it ticket.
“It is therefore interesting to note that the Presidential Aspiration of Peter Obi / Datti Baba-Ahmed Labor Party, not only considering the antidote for peaceful cohesion that creates the necessary environment for productive and progressive leadership. that will put a smile on the face of Nigerians, it appreciates words of truth, capacity, justice, equity and fairness because Obi comes from the South-East zone that has not been produced occupying the seat of the president of Nigeria,” Mr. Jonathan stated.
He claimed that the LP candidate and his running mate, Ahmed Yusuf, have a “good record of experience without corruption in past leadership positions” that they both hold, saying that the record is a “major addition” to them.
He said the ticket gave him “youth and intelligence” that would be relevant in various countries around the world, arguing that Mr. Tinubu and Atiku would only be better off making meaningful contributions to the Nigerian Council of Elders instead of “exposing themselves to stressful tasks from the high office of the president in that age.
“The 2023 presidential ambitions of Tinubu and Atiku would rather create separation than the love Nigeria needs at this time our country.”
He stressed that Mr. Tinubu’s presidential ambitions do not “stand in justice” because it is the turn of the South-East to produce a state president based on equity.
“Atiku’s ambition is against the understanding between Southern and Northern Nigeria that power should rotate between the two parts of the country without any political ties,” he said.
“Based on these reasons and others that I cannot mention here because of the respect I have for Tinubu and Atiku who are old as my parents, I choose to support and speak for Obi/Datti Labor. Party Presidential Team in the 2023 presidential election for the term the future of our beloved country,” Mr. Jonathan added.
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