From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The ambition of the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, suffered hiccups as Fulani Youths in Nigeria, unanimously endorsed the standard bearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, as its preferred candidate in the 2023 poll.
The Leader of the group, Ibrahim Abdullahi, during the endorsement in Abuja, explained that the country needed someone who would be fair to every region, which Obi represented.
Abdullahi explained that support of Obi would heal the wounds caused by the civil war which led to the killing of thousands of people.
“Of course, the present president is our kinsman. But we have come to realise that we do not need our own or people you share the same faith with to become the president before your lots improve. We need somebody that is honest.
“We need somebody that is just and fair. When you have that he should come from Jupiter, there is no problem.
“So the Nigerian-Fulani are no longer after tribal, ethnic and religious sentiment. We are looking for a leader that is capable of bringing Nigeria to the promised land.
“We have realised over the years that these two tribes– the Fulani and the Igbo hold 99% of the corporate existence of Nigeria. The Igbo has a control of about 80 to 90% of commerce and industry in Nigeria.
“The Fulani man controls 99.99 of the livestock that we have in this country. And by implication, we have the 99.99% of the protein meat in Nigeria.
“These two groups have accepted to work for the good of Nigerians and it is the best thing that will ever happen to this country. It has been done before.
“We have seen how the alliance in the First Republic and so we believe that the North and South East which brought prosperity to Nigeria will continue.
“And we have seen when there was division, these two very important groups suffered because of the civil war which was unfortunate.
“We are still leaking the wounds of the civil war. Therefore we have decided to this time around that, of course we have offended ourselves but we have decided to make peace.”
Meanwhile, a former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, said the hand of God was in the movement of Obi known as ‘Obidients’.
Ezeife said: “Our brothers, the youths of Fulani extraction have, today endorsed Peter Obi as the next president of Nigeria.
“And when Peter Obi stays there as president for two years, our sons and daughters abroad will begin to think about coming back.
“The almighty God in heaven has a hand in Peter Obi’s movement. It is not a matter of choice. I know this Peter Obi very well. I was governor before him.
“And after I left office, I came to Enugu airport and saw Peter Obi as governor of Anambra State carrying his own luggage. I was surprised. I never carried my luggage.
“My briefcases were carried by people. But he said to me that people’s funds most be used for people’s good. So, he did not want to hire anybody to carry his briefcase; he wanted to use the people’s money for their good.”
He, also, explained that the comments of Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo in which he doubted the possibility of Obi emerging as president, was a ploy to tempt people from other region in believing that the South East was not for Obi.
“If all the Igbos are saying Peter Obi, Peter Obi, some of you would turn against us that he is our brother.
“He (Soludo) said it to tempt you that we are not all for Peter. It does not mean anything. If we are 100, 99.9% are for Peter.”