Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
A member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Working Committee (NWC), Dr. Salihu Lukman, has denied supporting the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, ahead of the February 25 election.
Lukman, in a statement, yesterday, said he was dismayed that anyone could imagine he would support any candidate other than the presidential candidate of his party, Bola Tinubu.
He said as a member of APC, he wanted to campaign for all the candidates of the party, and at the same time, respect the opposition.
According to him, “A close friend and comrade recently asked me if I am Obedient, suggesting that I am supporting Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party. To say the least, I was very dismayed that anyone could imagine I will support any candidate other than Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“I may excuse any person if he/she is meeting me for the first time. Having come a long way both as activist and learner of politics since my student days in the 1980s, our commitment to politics and the development of Nigeria was informed by a clear vision to build a society founded on equality and justice.”
Lukman said there was a need to appeal to Obidients to honestly recognise the shortcomings of Mr. Peter Obi as a politician and Labour Party (LP) as a political party.
He said recognising these shortcomings would be important in convincing Nigerians that they were engaging the contest also as a strategy to reform both the person of Obi and his party.
The APC Chieftain said, “In terms of the person of Mr. Peter Obi, so far, his characteristics is that of a typical Nigerian politician, who is more of an election merchant presenting himself every four years for election, even if it means changing political party.
“Being an election merchant connotes an obvious lack of commitment and discipline to be loyal to any political party. This partly explains why Mr. Obi moved from All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and now LP between 2015 and now. What is the guarantee that his candidature of LP also bears a commitment to develop the LP and gets it to overcome all its challenges.”
Lukman said it was public knowledge that the LP has been embroiled in leadership crisis, adding: “How is Mr. Obi using his campaign to negotiate the resolution of LP crisis. From a distant point of view, Mr. Obi is, in fact, indifferent to the crisis facing LP.”
