Ben Nanaghan, Spokesman of the Mandate for Peter Obi 2023 has said Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is the man to beat in next year’s election because of the wide acceptance from Nigerians.
In this interview, he speaks on what the group is all about, winning strategy Peter Obi’s campaign managers must use in the forthcoming election among others.
What is it about MANPO’23?
The MANPO’23 means the mandate for Peter Obi for the year 2023. By this, we mean that we in the MANPO’23 as a microcosm of the Nigerian electorate have commissioned Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed to rescue Nigeria from the lions den of old politicians and return Nigeria to the teeming, oppressed and hungry youths as their eternal democratic and political inheritance. So, the MANPO’23 is a specific commission and mandate to Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed to carry out a course of action, policy and assignment; the mandate to Peter Obi and Datty Baba Ahmed to carry out a course of policy and assignment as ordered by the MANPO ’23 group representing the Nigerian electorate.
Considering the unprecedented ovation Peter Obi’s candidature has been receiving both within and without Nigeria, would you rather say that his exit from the PDP is a blessing?
The philosophical and the didactic implications of Mr. Peter Obi’s withdrawal from the Peoples Democratic Party, the PDP is that the moral content of Peter Obi’s withdrawal from the PDP is insinuative and deep beyond peripheral understanding. Peter Obi cannot wine and dine with people with a high propensity for corruption, a naturally high tendency to disloyalty, a people with a proven inability to say and stick to the truth all the time, a people with an indisputable propensity for poor and selfish judgments; a people with an unyielding reliance on marabouts (native doctors), a people totally lacking in transparency and a people who are ready to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety, truth, and national interest for self and selfish interests.
Yes, of course his exit from the PDP is not only a blessing to Peter Obi but also to the Labour Party, the millions of deprived and badly misruled Nigerian masses and to the Nigerian nation as a whole.
Stepping down of other Presidential aspirants in the Labour Party, how does it portray the acceptability and confidence in Mr. Peter Obi in the forthcoming presidential election?
The Labour Party, before Mr. Peter Obi’s glorious and glamorous introduction was a party struggling for survival and in the throes of unavoidable demise. But on Peter Obi’s ‘s entry into the Labour Party, the p arty developed a rapid survival instinct and made a determination not to be bludgeoned and battered into submission and political non existence by the other political parties. In fact, Peter Obi’s membership of the Labour Party resuscitated and rebranded the dying party and infused it with energy, vitality and vigour.
Before Peter Obi’s advent, the Labour party was intricately engulfed in both inter and intra party squabbles that nearly blew breath out of the party. The party was splintered into several factions with different chairmen and presidential candidates. The former chairman of the Labour Party in Anambra State, Jude Ezewafor had been declared presidential candidate of a faction of the Labour Party in Abuja on June 8th, 2022 but the tactful handling of the internal crisis of the Labour Party by its chairman, Julius Abure and his National Working Committee party stakeholders like Jude Ezewafor, Callistus Okafor saved the day for the party. It led to the approval and contributions of some of the stakeholders while confirming Peter Obi’s acceptability and popularity within the party all over Nigeria and throughout the world.
The Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesome Wike was at a time rumoured to be interested in joining the Labour Party. Sir, do you see Governor Wike coming down from his Olympian heights to a young party like the Labour Party?
Governor Nyesome Wike of Rivers State is a highly unpredictable character and so very difficult to bet on. Governor Wike was floored by Atiku Abubakar and he was denied the PDP presidential candidature by Governor Tambuwal’s unceremonious withdrawal from the PDP presidential primary election in Abuja. Governor Wike was further incensed by Governor Okowa’s betrayal for accepting to become vice presidential candidate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. For Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, the greatest Southern advocate for a Southern Nigerian President to accept to be Vice President of a Northern Candidate is the betrayal and back stabbing that Governor Wike can accept. Governor Wike is a smart politician and he has kept the whole world guessing what his next plans would be.
However, my prediction is that even though Gov. Wike will silently work for Mr. Peter Obi but he will not defect to the Labour Party, neither will he resign his membership of the PDP. Governor Wike is smart and holds the ace in this card shuffling streak of irreconcilable opposites with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
If you are in the team of Mr. Peter Obi’s managers, what winning strategy will you be adopting in your campaign?
There is no particular winning strategy in political campaigns. Many politicians have won their electoral victories by employing various campaign techniques and strategies, but the most popular is the grassroots mobilisation strategy. Grassroots mobilisation advocacy assembles a whole gamut of preferences and strategies. These include the door- to- door campaign strategy, television /radio/print media adverts, billboards, etc.
For instance, President Barack Obama used the door-to-door approach to win the American presidential elections of 2008 and 2012. However, the Nigerian electorate is massively ignorant; poor, uninformed and illiterate. Yeah, the Nigerian electorate is only influenced by material incentives like money, foodstuffs and other material advantages. In 2015, the All Progressives Congress (APC) imported the American vote programmer, Mr. David Axelrod, to plan a strategy of highfalutin deceptions and unachievable fallacies to hoodwink the illiterate Nigerian electorate. China’s greatest war strategist, Sun Tzu postulated that, “in the mindset of chaos, there is also opportunity”. There’s chaos in Nigeria right now so I will advise Peter Obi’s managers to massively mobilise the entire nation for the practical takeover of Nigeria from old politicians who have swallowed all our natural resources and commonwealth. Peter Obi’s campaign managers must take advantage of the national dissatisfaction and unrest to push the Nigerian electorate into a revolutionary frenzy and mass mobilisation for the final take over of the country by a people-friendly government.
Peter Obi of the Labour Party has been described as the man to beat in the 2023 general elections, do you agree with this assessment?
This your question is a rhetorical question, so let me answer it with another question with a quotation from the radical French writer, poet, and essayist, Monsieur Victor Hugo. He said, “nothing else in the world – not even all the armies in the world – is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” The Peter Obi movement cannot be stopped, not even by Mr. Peter himself. He cannot disembark from the train or stop the movement of this train.
The MANPO’23 believes that Peter Obi is the man to beat because even five serving state governors are tactically and strategically backing him. The Edo State House of Assembly has tacitly endorsed him. On the 30th July 2022, the powerful and dependable socio-cultural voice of the Yoruba Nation, Afenifere openly backed Peter Obi for President come February 2023. On August 5th, 2022, all the 15 deregistered parties by INEC declared their support for Peter Obi’s Presidency under the Labour Party. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Offices nationwide have had an unprecedented bombardment due to the support all Nigerian youths have for Mr. Peter Obi. Also, organisations and coalitions for the support of Peter Obi are now over 5000 all over the country. Most prominent among these are theMANPO’23, Obi Save Naija, Peter Obi’s Success Group, PO Think Tank, The New Nigeria group, the Good Governance group, PO Network, United Nigeria group and The United Nigerian Youths for Peter Obi. On the 22nd of May, 2022, the Nigerian Bar Association Annual Conference was thrown into a rancorous and wild celebration shout of Obi, Obi, Obi for over 20 minutes as the Labour Party flag bearer stormed the venue. Peter Obi has received thunderous ovations in both churches and mosques all over Nigeria.
We in the MANPO’23 know that some people have perfected plans to thwart the efforts of opposition parties to discourage their members in the forthcoming presidential elections. But we believe God Almighty will thwart their evil plans and Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba – Ahmed will emerge as President and Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come February 2023.