Prof. Pat Utomi, convener of The BIG-TENT coalition of political parties, social movements, and civil society organisations, has announced that two former heads of state have endorsed the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for the 2023 elections.
According to him, the LP has more constructive infrastructure in place than other political parties in order to retake Nigeria from those who have held it back.
Utomi, a political economist and former Director of Lagos Business School, made the remarks in Abuja on Friday during a town hall meeting organised by The BIG-TENT as part of efforts to rally support for Obi, his running mate, Datti Ahmed, and the LP.
He added that opponents of “Obidients” will be startled by the outcome and that The BIG-TENT has strived to establish actual structures for Obi.
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Money alone doesn’t win elections, added Utomi, who avoided naming the former state leaders. I’ve been informed by two previous leaders of state that they are Obidients. To ensure that Obi and Baba-Ahmed win and retake our country from those who have kept it down, many people want to join the (Obidient) movement without joining the Labour Party.
“The LP has better structures than the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress. When people talk about structures, I kind of laugh because they don’t understand the meaning of structure. The structure is a criminal network of people who can fix elections and we have to stop that; that’s not structure.
“We at The BIG-TENT have worked at developing real structures and they are going to be shocked at what they will see. Many of the Peter Obi Support Groups have structures on their own that can win these elections. At every poll during the election day, we will have 20 people who belong to these structures.
“When they get to the polling units, it won’t be business as usual. And when they try to mess things up by doctoring Information Technology from the Independent National Electoral Commission, they will meet us there because we know they are planning things like that, but they will meet us there with technology.”
