Former Senator and Spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign, Dino Melaye, has accused the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, of depleting the votes of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
Melaye, who accused Obi’s supporters known as ‘Obidients’ of working for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, urged the former Anambra State governor to “come back home” to support Atiku in order to stop the continuation of APC in government.
In a statement to newsmen on Saturday, the former lawmaker claimed that Peter Obi would not win the presidential election because the Labour Party does not have the structure to do so.
While stating that Obi lacks the capacity to unite Nigeria, Dino Melaye noted that the Labour Party has only 30 senatorial candidates as against the 109 senatorial seats.
He, however, claimed that Obi cannot stop Atiku’s victory in 2023, adding that any vote for Peter Obi is a vote for the APC.
He said, “I will start without coloring it. And Nigerians must know that any vote for Peter Obi is a vote for APC because Peter Obi cannot make it. So, anybody that is voting for the Labour Party is actually voting for Tinubu. Anybody that is campaigning for Peter Obi is actually praying and working for Tinubu to become the President of the Republic of Nigeria because if you are voting for Peter Obi, you are depleting the votes of the PDP because Peter Obi cannot make it.
“The truth of the matter is that the Labour Party only fielded 30 out of 109 candidates for the Senate. So who is going to protect the votes of the Labour party when even fielding candidates for 109 senatorial seats they couldn’t? They only fill that in 30 constituencies. Even the House of Representatives, they couldn’t field in every constituency. For the House of Assembly, they couldn’t fill up to 50 percent across the country.”
Obi The Regional Candidate
He stated that Peter Obi is a regional candidate, claiming that that was the reason why Chief Obafemi Awolowo; Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe; Aminu Kano; couldn’t emerge as presidents of Nigeria.
“Chief Awolowo was a fantastic leader, intellectually mobile and cerebral, very sagacious. But because he was running on regional grounds, both as Action Group and a UPN, he never became the president of this country.
“Azikiwe, another fantastic nationalist, but because he was a regional champion he was only able to produce governors within the eastern part of his country.
“Aminu Kano, a very pious man with all sincerity and integrity, could only win elections with PRP in Kano and Kaduna. Buhari himself, ran on regional grounds three times and lost woefully because he was the regional champion, both in APP, ANPP, and in CPC, he couldn’t win until he ran on a national platform. When people like Atiku, Tinubu, Saraki and myself collapsed to form a national party that was when Buhari could become president. So historically, Peter Obi ought to know that no regional champion can be president in Nigeria,” he said.
