Obi is an unserious candidate for not making his manifesto available — Northern Leaders

The Northern Leaders Consultative Forum, a body which comprises of Muslim and Christian leaders across the 19 Northern States and FCT, have declared that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi is an unserious candidate for not making his manifesto available for adequate interrogation.

News Band reports that on Friday, the NLCF chaired by Mr Dogara adopted Atiku-Okowa ticket at a meeting in Abuja after it said Labour Party lacks the necessary structure to win the 2023 election.

The adoption was made following a report by its technical criteria committee charged with the mandate to develop a framework and criteria for the assessment of the leading political parties and their presidential candidates.

While ruling off Peter Obi, the Northern Leaders said, “The Northern Leaders Consultative Forum, a body comprised of Muslim and Christian leaders across the 19 Northern States and FCT was set up on the 8th October, 2022 with the mandate to consult among all strata of people in Northern Nigeria with a view to identifying the political party to support for the 2023 presidential elections. This was necessitated by the rejection of the same faith Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.

“The Forum set up a Technical Criteria Committee with the mandate to develop a framework and criteria for the assessment of the leading political parties and their presidential candidates and recommend the ticket that represents our religious, ethnic and geographical diversities, capable of bringing about peace, unity, cohesion and inclusiveness.

“The Committee has completed its assignment and presented its report to the Forum. The Forum has accordingly adopted the report and hereby issues the following communique:

“That the four leading political parties that were considered by the Technical Committee for the purpose of this assignment are:

“The All Progressives Congress (APC)

“The New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP)

“The Labour Party (LP) and

“The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

“That the presidential tickets of the NNPP and LP are inclusive, representing our religious diversity as a country populated by a dominant population of Muslims and Christians.

“It is however noted that the NNPP and LP have not yet unveiled their Strategic Policy Plan for Nigerians to interrogate. This is less than 3 months to the general elections. And so, it is safe to say that no one except the two parties know the direction in which they intend to take the country. Nigerians cannot go into an election blind folded, especially in view of the myriad of problems bedeviling the nation.

“The NNPP and LP do not have all round grassroot structures required of a political party seeking the highest office in the country. They do not have reasonable presence of its members in positions of governance at national, state and local government levels. The few if any, have only recently decamped to the parties. There seems to be a dearth of experienced hands within their parties to pilot the affairs of state.

“Based on INEC’s final list of candidates for the 2023 elections, the NNPP could not field in all the seats for the office of Governor and House of Representatives while LP could not field in all the candidates at the levels of Governor, National Assembly (Senate and House of representatives) and State Houses of Assembly.

“The NNPP and LP do not have the required structures to win the presidential election and even if they win, they cannot be able to smoothly run the government as they will not have the required parliamentary majority to successfully pilot the affairs of government, the group added.

Meanwhile, the delay by the Labour Party and it’s presidential hopeful to release the party’s manifesto has warranted attacks from other leading parties (PDP and APC).

The spokesperson of PDP presidential campaign management committee, Senator Dino Melaye, has also challenged the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to make his manifesto available for public scrutiny.

Melaye, who stated this in a statement added that Obi’s candidacy is not about the people.

Melaye, who described Obi as a false messiah said, “The Labour Party candidate has not even released an authorised manifesto. And it is no surprise that only Atiku has a Covenant with Nigeria that boldly includes restructuring the federation.”

He added, “Obi can capitalise on popular frustrations and irritations. He can confound Obi-dients with rhetoric divorced from reality offering swift and simple solutions to every problem. It is seduction and allure of the Eshu serving Ulaga Masquerade.

“The reality is very different and requires more work than pithy statements. It requires managing a team of rivals in your own party, many of whom disagree vehemently but remain in the Party and juggling urgent but competing priorities. In PDP, we don’t follow the leader, we forge leaders to lead, taking their leadership cues from the party and the people.

“The so-called Obi movement has yet to articulate what it is for. We know what it is against. And like the Arab Spring, movements that are only against something are rarely durable and typically lead to tyranny that often manifests in a cult of personality, achieving the ultimate aim of the Ulaga whose pretense to be a tin-god is given validation. If this is the movement then it is a dangerous one.”

“Atiku is as phlegmatic as he is pragmatic, as purpose driven as he is poised. Through it all he has endured decades of the vilest abuse, slander, accusations and persecution. He has been Probed and investigated again and again, and cleared again and again. He has never wallowed in victimhood. Not even in the most trying times has Atiku lashed out with the churlishness Peter Obi did. He is a profile in courage under fire.

Meanwhile, Tinubu has also insisted that he would only engage Obi in a debate after the latter releases his manifesto for Nigerians to scrutinise.

Recall that Tinubu had earlier said he would not attend the third edition of the presidential town hall meeting organised by Arise television station in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) after he abstained from previous edition.

The third edition, which will focus on education, healthcare, poverty, and human capital, is expected to host Tinubu, Obi, standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) presidential hopeful, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

Speaking through the spokesman of his campaign team, Festus Keyamo, Tinubu said Obi should also list his achievements during his tenure as governor of Anambra State before any debate can hold.

Keyamo said Obi should name any political party he formed and should disclose those he had mentored in politics who are still with him before asking for a debate.

“Before Obi can stand shoulder to shoulder with Asiwaju to debate, he should first release a manifesto for scrutiny; then he should list his tangible achievements as governor of Anambra compared to the tangible achievements of Asiwaju as governor of Lagos State.

“Then he should list those he has mentored in politics from the days of his being governor, who are still with him now; then he should tell us any political party he has either formed or partnered to form and which he still belongs to today,” he said.