… Affirms membership of APC, though supporting Obi candidacy
… Statistics of Nigerians living in poverty more than 133 million quoted by NBS
Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawan, has cautioned Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, his running mate, Baba Ahmed-Datti and supporters of the party not to be carried away with the euphoria of the ongoing nationwide mass movement while ignoring the strength of having a well coordinated structured to canvass for votes.
The former SGF who recently declared his support for Obi’s presidential ambition however reaffirmed his membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress, even as he wonders why he has not be expelled from the party.
Lawan who stated this at the North East Stakeholders Interactive Session between Labour Party and leadership of the region also dismissed speculations about disagreement between his splinter group and that of former Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, said that they were both working on the same goal.
Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, while appreciating the convener of the meeting noted that the statistics of Nigerians living in poverty by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics might be incorrect giving the reality as seen on the faces of millions of Nigerian.
According to him, “2023 election, is an election that is critical to Nigerians. We have over 35 per cent of population unemployed and over 60 per cent of our youths not employed.
“NBS released a statistics that 133 million Nigerians are living in poverty. So if a government agency is telling you that 133 million people are living in poverty, it can be all of us”.
Obi explained that the cause of insecurity in the country was deeply rooted in the level of unemployed youths who he said were in their active years.
Also speaking at the event, former SGF, Babachir Lawan, cautioned that that Labour Party must look beyond its rising popularity and invest every available resources to build structures across the entire 36 states of the federation, especially in the North where Peter Obi was not known to the people.
Lawan who was reacting to an earlier statement made by the party’s vice presidential candidate, Baba Ahmed-Datti, who said Labour Party doesn’t need a structure to win next year’s presidential election, said such thought might be the party’s biggest undoing.
He said: I am still a member of the APC but I don’t know why they have not expell me. I have listened to the vice presidential candidate but even with good programme on papers, you might have the best candidates, they talk good English, but if we do not win this election, it’s nonesnse. And I told some people yesterday, if we lose this election, we all run to Cameron.
“We must not deceive ourselves. We need to have structures in the states that can canvass for votes that people will know that this man votes in my polling unit and I am voting because he knows Peter Obi and when he wins, through him, I will get my own share. That’s the mentality of Nigerians.
“I cannot understand what motivation I am going to give people in polling units to come and vote for Peter Obi who is from Anambra that they can’t even call the name of the place, they have never seen him, they have never seen his poster and I am telling them to vote for him.
That is why If you see the statistics of election, the turnout for chairmanship is higher because everybody knows the chairman. Then they have house of assembly, then they have house of representatives, then of course the Senate.
“By the time it gets to the Presidential election, somebody from my village doesn’t know who Obi is. So we have to mobilise. I keep telling this Labour Party. We must mobilise. We must have structure to deliver this mobilsation.
