A coalition of about 15 political pressure groups under the aegis of Coalition for Peter Obi (COP) is said to have mounted serious pressure on the former governor of Anambra and presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to dump the party and contest on any other party’s platform.
The Point learnt that the Coalition is worried that Obi may be outfoxed by the strong Northern interest in the party and therefore, want him to put himself forward in another party given the fact that he remains a popular candidate for the position of the president in 2023 from various investigations and polls.
The Coalition is said to have based its decision on credible intelligence at its disposal of how moneybags in the PDP are “spoiling delegates with Dollars” in a bid to sway their voting decision to favour them in the coming presidential primary.
To avoid a situation where Nigerians would be denied the opportunity of having Obi as one of their options in the general election ballot paper in 2023, they decided to badvise Obi to immediately move to another political party so as to be at peace with his conscience and not to entangle himself with possible political negotiations or manoeuvring that will stain him and hamper his ability to serve Nigerians.
The Coalition which recently organised a One-Million-Man March for Obi, which was reported to be highly successful across the 36 states of the federation and FCT, reported that about 7 million Nigerians participated in the march on Saturday, May 21, 2022.
The Coalition blasted the PDP for playing a game it called “double standard” by willfully violating its own Constitutional provision on zoning.
The Coalition in a statement on Tuesday morning signed by Zubairu Mohammad, said “Recent developments within the leadership of PDP is very pathetic as many chieftains of the party have ganged up to frustrate the presidential ambition of genuine and decent presidential aspirants, thereby encouraging unscrupulous politicians with no verifiable sources of income to throw monies around.
“They are well-known individuals in the party who are doing everything possible within their powers to block any chance for credible aspirants to emerge. The Party seems to have adopted an unwritten rule of tacitly encouraging the looting of state resources for party politics.
“Many of these political merchants are envious of the nationwide acceptability and sterling performance of Peter Obi both in the public and private sector, making them do everything possible to thwart the former governor of Anambra state’s presidential ambition.
“Therefore, as a Coalition which consists of more than 17 groups with ten million active voters, we call on his Excellency, Mr Peter Obi to dump Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and look for another political platform with people of like mind to pursue his presidential ambition to enable him to help salvage our sinking nation,” the Coalition stated.
