The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, says the decision of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, and his Christian group in the North to support the presidential flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, was to suit his selfish interest.
Obi said though Dogara has a fundamental right to choose who to support ahead of the 2023 general election, the former Speaker has been moving from “frying pan to fire, from one injustice to another and claiming to be acting on behalf his people.”
The former governor of Anambra State added that Dogara’s position did not reflect the mind of the majority of Nigerians who he said have since supported his presidential ambition.
The LP presidential standard-bearer said this via a statement issued on Sunday by his campaign media office, Obi-Datti.
It would be recalled that the Forum of Christian and Muslim Political Leaders from the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), after its meeting in Abuja on Friday, adopted Atiku as its consensus candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
The group which has the former House of Reps Speaker as the arrowhead, hinged its decision on four planks, stressing that the Labour Party does not have the required structure to win the next year’s presidential election.
However, the Obi-Datti, on Sunday, said: “Hon. Dogara has a fundamental right to choose who to support and nobody can hold that against him, but to try injecting his Old Testament politics into the system to suit his selfish interest is not going to do him any good.
READ ALSO: 2023: Dogara, Northern Forum adopt Atiku as consensus candidate
“Clearly, the former Speaker knows that he is swimming against the tide by his unpopular decision which amounts to running from frying pan to fire; from one injustice to another, and claiming to be acting on behalf of his people whose anger for the two wrongs of the two main political parties are glaring.
“Hon Dogara knows as a fact that his position does not reflect the heart and mind of majority of Nigerian populace who are already on the moving train to take back the country from primeval political thinkers like him.
“At his level as the ex-leader of the national parliament, Hon. Dogara should have been privileged to read the handwriting on the wall vividly to know that where the pendulum swings today: the talk is not about political party, but about character, competence and capacity, because where the country precariously stands today requires nothing short to save it.
“Hon. Dogara as the Speaker of the House of Representatives successfully ran a parliament literally in the opposition to the Executive and heaven did not fall, yet he feels that a pragmatic President like Peter Obi would not be able to maneuver or steer the ship of state.
“It’s obvious that the former Speaker is still leaving in the past of the old politics that brought the country to where we are today that political party interest is taking precedence over and above national interest.
“The former Speaker knows as a fact that his choice is against the tide, as the country stands on two prongs today ahead of 2023; justice and equity on one hand and capacity and competence on the other and not on primordial interest of political party lines.
“We in the Obi-Datti Media see Hon Dogara’s unpopular stand as a clear measure of double standard and a grave error in seeing same faith ticket in his party as wrong but jump to embrace another injustice of a party that refuses to follow its own constitution and respect for political fairness and accommodation.
“Obi-Datti Media Office, therefore, sympathizes with Hon. Dogara for failing woefully to grab the ample opportunity that every politician looks forward to, standing for their people at a critical time of their abandonment. History will certainly place him as a leader who turned his back on his people when they rose against injustice and oppression,” the statement read.
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