THE Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council has accused the All Progressives Council (APC) of running a religious organisation in the name of a political party.
The campaign council’s spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo, made the accusation while speaking during a Twitter space organised by The ICIR, on Monday, January 30.
Faulting the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket fielded by the APC, Okonkwo noted that any party that does not recognise the country’s diversity is going to cause instability.
He stressed that the Labour Party is trying to prevent war in Nigeria by pushing for Peter Obi’s presidency.
“Any party that doesn’t recognise our diversity is going to bring instability. Haven’t you heard some clerics saying they are going on Jihad to support Muslim-Muslim ticket. That’s war. And that’s what we are trying to avoid when we were saying bringing same fate ticket in Nigeria with what we know is not going to help us. A lot of Muslims are against it.
“Can you imagine in a party, you have the Senate President, Muslim. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Muslim. Deputy Speaker of the House, Muslim. Presidential candidate, Muslim, Vice presidential candidate, Muslim, even National party chairman. At a time when we have a Muslim Chief Justice of the Federation. So what kind of party is that?
“It’s even against our Constitution. It’s against Section 14, sub-section 34 of the Constitution. It’s against Section 15, sub-section 1, sub-section 2, sub-section 3(d) and sub-section 4 of the Constitution. You can’t have a party and give it an appearance as if it’s a religious party or an ethnic party.”
Speaking on the Labour Party’s structure, Okonkwo further stressed that the South-East and South-South are for Obi, adding that he will share the South-West with the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu.
According to him, 90 per cent of Nigerian Christians will vote for Obi due to the Muslim-Muslim ticket.
“If you like it or not, 90 per cent of Christians, Nigeria wise, are doing Obi. And the reason is that they don’t want Muslim-Muslim ticket. I am telling you that those Christians would still have voted against Christian-Christian ticket, it’s not about religion. It’s another fact that we are a divided nation.”
He stressed that Obi’s structure had already been in existence since 2019, noting that it is strong and firm.
Suggesting that Obi is the third-force, sought by Nigerians, Okonkwo added: “When this movement started, It predated Obi entering Labour Party. Since 2019, Nigerians have been unanimous that the major political parties have failed. They lost confidence in the major political parties, and they wanted third-force but who is going to be a symbol of this third force?”
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M