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The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has disagreed with the notion that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is set to politically capture the southeast region.
Speaking to newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja, the former Anambra State Governor said only the people can decide who to vote for, not the party.
He insisted that nobody is capturing anywhere as Nigeria is not practicing military rule where people are captured.
According to Obi, politicians are expected to convince people to vote for them, and not coerce citizens to support any particular political party.
“As for the alleged plot to capture the South-East, we are not in a military time when you capture people.
“You are a leader. You tend to do the right things for them to follow you. So I don’t think anybody is capturing anywhere,” he stated.
Naija News reports that his statement comes in response to an earlier declaration by the APC that it aims to take over the Southeast region in the 2027 general election.
The declaration was made on Tuesday by the newly inaugurated chairman of the APC caretaker committee in Enugu State, Ben Nwoye, shortly after the defection of Enugu Governor, Peter Mbah, was confirmed.
However, Obi submitted that only good governance that impacts the citizens can convince people to vote for a political party.
“The government needs to do more if it wants the people to support it,” he added.
The Labour Party chieftain who criticized the current wave of defections to the APC, however, dismissed fears of Nigeria sliding into a one-party state.
He also stressed that parties don’t win elections based on the number of Governors it has, saying no political party can “capture” any region simply because a governor defects to it.
“The people will decide where to go, not governors or senators. No party will capture or win any state just because it has a governor,” Obi said.
On Peter Mbah
Speaking on the decision of Peter Mbah to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the APC, Obi described the Enugu Governor as his good friend, adding that the Governor must have weighed his options and have justifications for the defection.
Obi said, “I believe that as governor, he must have taken his decision based on his own political views and calculations.”
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