The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has described the attempt to link his campaign to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), as “height of mischief.”
Labour Party’s Presidential candidate was responding to allegations by his counterpart in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu’s campaign organisation, had on Wednesday, asked Obi to caution his supporters against spreading lies and denigrating its candidates.
Bayo Onanuga, the director of media and communications of the campaign organisation, urged Obi and other presidential aspirants to desist from mudslinging and focus their campaigns on issues of good governance.
Onanuga had accused Obi’s supporters of faking a letter attributed to Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, allegedly asking Tinubu to support Obi’s presidential bid and take care of his health.
“We have come to a point where it becomes imperative to tell Obi to show leadership. He should disavow his supporters who are employing fake news and disinformation as deliberate tools to deceive and poison the minds of unsuspecting Nigerians”, he had said.
But in a swift response, Obi’s media adviser, Valentine Obienyem, said the LP presidential candidate had always been an advocate for campaigns that are centred on important issues rather than name-calling or trivial issues.
Obienyem tackled the Tinubu campaign organisation over its attempt to attribute the fake Nana Akufo-Addo letter to Obi’s supporters,
According to him, it was wicked of the Tinubu campaign organisation to link Obi’s supporters or group to the letter without providing evidence.
He also noted that if Tinubu was interested in an issues-based campaign as canvassed by his team, his supporters would not have taken to newspapers to publish opinion articles aimed at tarnishing Obi’s image.
Apparently referring to an opinion article titled ‘Obi-tuary’, where the writer, Sam Omatseye, who is an associate of Tinubu, deeply criticised Obi, Obienyem said such articles with “offensive titles” do not suggest that the APC presidential candidate has an interest in campaigning on issues.
He added that the former governor of Anambra State has thrown his weight behind the call by Tinubu for the campaign, whenever it starts, to be based on issues and not personality.
Obienyem further described as the “height of mischief”, the attempt to link his campaign to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He said: “We know that things are not well in Nigeria. We know of the agitations in different parts of the country, our principal has always said what he would do with such organisations to stop their agitation and bring them back to Nigeria as one happy family.
“Rather than others say what they will do, they are here creating more problems by trying vainly and wickedly to link their fellow contestants to some of those organisations.”
Obienyem expressed happiness that “Nigerians knew the truth and that such gimmicks used to deceive them would no longer work.”