Labour Party, LP, candidate of Anambra State House of Assembly for Oyi state constituency, Obinna Okafor, has explained the rationale behind the defection of LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, himself, and other prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to Labour Party.
Okafor, who made the disclosure, weekend, during the New Yam Festival of his Nkwelle-Ezunaka community, Oyi Local Government Area, hinted that they decamped from the PDP to the LP because PDP did not treat the South-East zone fairly since the inception of this present dispensation in 1999.
Okafor further explained that Peter Obi and others were chieftains of PDP, and have been loyal and voted massively for the party more than other geopolitical zones but when they discovered that the southeast geopolitical zone has not been treated fairly, they decided to dump the party as a group.
According to Okafor: “The first time we believed it was our time was in 1999 when the late Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, contested for Presidency but it was given to Obasanjo, to appease the South West because of the death of MKO Abiola.
“Now, this 2023 should be the second chance for the southeast but somewhere along the line, PDP thwarted our chance and some of us who are progressives left PDP because of this to Labour Party”.
On the intra-PDP crisis now rocking the party, the House of Assembly hopeful reiterated that one could not after building a house, leave it for another person to inhabit.
To buttress his point , he stated: “In 2015, the likes of Tambuwal, Atiku Abubakar, Saraki, Rotimi Amaechi, among others, left us in PDP for APC to be with President Muhammadu Buhari, and that is what we are suffering today.
“We had Wike, who stood his ground and uplifted the party financially, morally and got the party to where it is today. If there is anything like inheritance, Wike should inherit the Presidential ticket of the PDP and not Atiku Abubakar. Should Wike be the Presidential candidate of PDP? Yes!”
Explaining further, he stated that the North, through President Muhammadu Buhari, is about rounding up for the South to take over, adding, “Why should we have another Muslim Northerner in a circular state like Nigeria?”
adding that the only constant thing in life is change, “from where we share money to where we engage people, ‘Obidient”.
[VANGUARD]