From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Two groups, Peter Obi Grassroots Movement (POGM), and the Obidient Across Parties Alliance (OAPA), campaigning for the election of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi have held solidarity march in Aba, Abia State, to boost support for Obi and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s senatotrial ambition.
The groups, which displayed banners showing support for Obi and Ikpeazu, in a carnival manner, marched from Azikiwe road to the Aba Sports Club where the Labour Party Presidential candidate addressed support groups.
In an interview with journalists later, leader of the Peter Obi Grassroots Movement, Chetachi Ikpe, explained that they were supporting Obi and Ikpeazu to emerge president and senator for Abia South zone, respectively.
He stated that their choices were based on the track records of the candidates, describing them as leaders with milk of human kindness and goal-oriented servants of the people.
The Coordinator, Obidients Across Parties Alliance, Chief Ndubueze Obiakwata, said his group was not interested in the name of any political party but in the performance and track records of individual candidates.
Speaking at the event, Obi who lamented that Aba has lost its glory, promised to return the city to the days of thriving commercial and manufacturing activities.
Insisting that the 2023 elections will make or mar the country and should not be based on ethnic or religious sentiments, the Labour Party presidential candidate tasked Nigerians to verify the track record of the presidential candidates and vote for the best to rescue the country.
“All I’m saying is that this election is an existential election for Nigeria. It is an election that will show if we are going forward or finished.
It is not an election of tribe because every tribe in Nigeria is hungry. No tribe or religion buys bread cheaper than others. Every tribe is suffering Insecurity. Nobody should vote for any candidate on the basis of religion. Everybody is suffering. The election has nothing to do with tribe or religion. It is nobody’s turn. It is the turn of Nigerians to take back Nigeria.
“I didn’t come to Aba for a campaign, but I’m here to assure the residents of Aba that this journey we have embarked on would bring back the lost glory of the city of Aba. The Aba we know today is a ghost of what Aba is supposed to be. If you go around Nigeria, what the country has produced in the last 20 years is insecurity, poverty, suffering and all sorts of problems which I don’t need to tell you. Today, no Nigerian is secured to move around in any city of the country.”
He, further, assured that Nigeria can end the insecurity problem bedeviling the nation with the right political leadership, stressing that criminals cannot be more formidable than the government.