Imumolen defends self over Obi, says Labour Party ‘too bewitched’ to produce president

The Accord Party’s presidential candidate, Professor Christopher Imumolen, has parried salvos being thrown at him for daring to say he would appoint co-aspirant and Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as his minister of trade and investment if he becomes president in next month’s general elections.

Professor Imumolen had said that in the spirit of the Accord party’s ethos of oneness and togetherness, he planned to break the boundaries of political affiliations to form a cabinet populated by the very best brains anywhere he could find them if he became the country’s next president in a widely circulated report in the media on Monday.

According to him, he would consider appointing the duo of Bola Tinubu of the APC and Obi of the Labour Party to function in the roles of special envoy and trade minister, respectively, if he got the people’s mandate to be president.

But after an avalanche of mixed reactions that followed his statement, Imumolen has come out to defend himself, saying he meant no harm in what he said.

“The reactions that have trailed my recent statements on Tinubu and Obi, good or bad, now make it imperative that I should throw more light on why I said both personalities, who are also my co-aspirants in the ongoing presidential race, will work with me in the task of salvaging Nigeria from the abyss of stagnation and underdevelopment if I become president,” Professor Imumolen said on Tuesday.

“The statements are sincere and were not borne out of malice. As a matter of fact, my decision to pick these eminent personalities as potential members of my cabinet shows the kind of regard I have for them.

“Obi is a nice man. But he is in a wrong party. Labour Party — the party under which he is planning to actualise his dream of becoming Nigeria’s president, if I must say, is actually a liability, not an asset.

“I am aware of the popularity Labour Party has gained over the few months with some persons now regarding it as a third force despite not been truly tested in a full-blown elections.

“But the truth is that the Labour Party, as presently constituted, cannot deliver the intended change that Nigeria earnestly seeks because it is bewitched!

“A party where a list of unexplained mysteries has been occurring unabatedly does not give any reasonable Nigerian confidence going into very important elections this February.

“Now, consider these instances. A party where a woman leader was killed in Kaduna, where a senatorial candidate in Imo State has been kidnapped with no signs of his whereabout.

“A party where a youth leader was recently indicted for creating a personal account to raise funds purportedly for Obi’s campaigns, a party where their highly respected campaign Director General, Doyin Okupe was jailed for money laundering offences.

“Add that to a gubernatorial candidate of the party kidnapped in Anambra State since last year without trace, and the mysterious death of the party’s national chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam in 2020, and it will be clear to many that the Labour Party is not only bewitched but incapable of giving Nigeria the president of the calibre she seeks in the upcoming general elections,” he said.