LP cheers Afenifere over support for Obi despite backlash

For their patriotism in declaring support for Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, the party’s spokesperson, Dr. Tanko Salisu Yunusa, paid a glowing tribute to pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere.

The announcement of the group’s support for Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election by Chief Ayo Adebanjo had drawn the ire of the Yoruba nation when one of their own, Asiwaju Ahmad Tinubu is also in the race under the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform.

Adebanjo said the group stood on justice and fairness and believed in true federalism and the Federal Character principle.

He said many Yoruba leaders questioned why he should be supporting Obi, a candidate of Igbo extraction, against Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Yoruba, but he took his time to explain that the presidency is not a contest between the Yorubas and the Igbos.

However, Yunusa said those crying over Afenifere’s support for Obi should wait for a shocker as Obi’s supporters in the north is growing astronomically by the day, especially after the Arewa Joint Committee’s character contest.

When asked what made him to think Obi’s support base is growing, Tanko quipped, “Presidential election is like beauty contest, you have to choose among the presidential candidates. You cannot go to the spectators’ stand to elect a more beautiful girl.

“Obi is not a saint, but in character, competence, and capacity, he is not only a Pan-Nigerian candidate, albeit he, is head and shoulder above the three leading presidential candidates. For our dear Compatriots, they trust Obi more than the rest in his capacity to salvage our dear country from dangerous slide into a failed state.”

Reminded that older politicians who have control are day and night working assiduously to stop Obi by all means, Tanko said, “We have heard of this security threat severally; however, to us Obi’s life is in the hands of Almighty God, because in God alone we trust. Obi depends solely on God and our security agencies.

“We believe sincerely that our security agencies are themselves yearning for a more productive and prosperous country, which Obi is prepared to engender.”