Onwuasoanya FCC Jones
If we must be serious about taking the Peter Obi candidacy forward to victory, we must make it clear that we are not supporting the man because he is Igbo. We have other Southeast and Igbo candidates on the ballot, but Peter Obi has our support because he is the most qualified at this time to make Nigeria work.
Yes, we pushed for and campaigned for the two major political Parties to zone their presidential ticket to the Southeast, because we know and it is true that equity demanded that power shifts to the Southeast at this time, in line with our political convention of power rotation. However, neither PDP nor APC heeded our call.
Leaders it both APC and PDP argued that there is nothing like rotation of power, that what mattered most was competence and capacity to mobilize for the Party’s victory. Well, they could be right.
Peter Obi emerged as the standard bearer of the Labour Party, and a surprising number of Nigerians are surging towards his candidacy, not because he is Igbo or from the Southeast, but because his message of #TakeBackNigeria resonates with a good number of Nigerians. If Peter were from Daura or even happened to be Buhari’s cousin, and he has the same message and the same record, I can assure you that Nigerians would have responded with the same spirit as they have welcomed his candidacy.
Peter Obi is not coming to favour Ndigbo. He is not coming to fight any special battle on behalf of Ndigbo, he is coming to fight to make Nigeria work for all of us. It doesn’t matter if you are Yoruba, Hausa or Ibibio, as long as you think that Nigeria is not working the way it is currently, then, Peter Obi is your candidate.
When we say we want to send a message with the Peter Obi candidacy, we are not saying that we want to do that as Igbos alone, but to send a strong message to the political class in Nigeria, that those who own Nigeria do not know the road to Aso Rock nor do they even live in Abuja. Peter Obi is about giving a voice to the ordinary citizens of this country and making them retake their power.
MAY NIGERIA PREVAIL!
