The Presidency claimed Obi ran the most hateful, divisive and polarising campaign that pitted Christians against Muslims.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Presidency has criticised the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the February poll, Peter Obi, over his statements at his world press conference in Abuja on Monday.
The conference was Obi’s first since the Supreme Court rejected his appeal to dismiss the electoral victory of President Bola Tinubu.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency urged Obi to “prove his belief in Nigeria.”
The statement admonished Obi to find another worthwhile vocation to engage his time henceforth.
“If Mr Peter Obi truly believes in Nigeria, the time to prove it is now when all men and women of goodwill are rallying support for President Bola Tinubu in his determination to lead a new era of prosperity, inclusive governance and economic growth.
“Our admonition to Obi is to find another worthwhile vocation to engage his time henceforth, having been rejected by majority of Nigerians who didn’t consider him qualified to lead our country.
“Nigerians rejected Peter Obi and his demagoguery at the poll because he posed present and future danger to the peace, progress and stability of our country,” Onanuga said.
The presidential aide said Obi’s antecedents as Governor of Anambra for eight years didn’t inspire any confidence as someone capable of running a country like Nigeria.
According to him, no tangible records of achievement in the state he governed recommended him for the Presidency of Nigeria.
“The LP presidential candidate in the last election, Mr Peter Obi, addressed a press conference, just like Atiku Abubakar, where he cast aspersions on the Supreme Court.
“He also attacked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for not declaring him the winner of the February 25, 2023 election.
“We are at a loss as to how the copycat Obi and his faction of Labour Party convinced themselves they won an election in which they came a distant third,” said Onanuga.
The Presidency expressed surprise at the “grand delusion” that made Obi believe he could have won a national election “where he ran the most hateful, divisive and polarising campaign that pitted Christians against Muslims.”
“His campaign also tried to pit ethnic groups against each other in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Nigeria. Such grand delusion should be a matter for deeper examination.
“At the press conference where he tried, in vain, to gaslight Nigerians with false claims and innuendos, Mr Obi contradicted himself.
“Here was a beneficiary of judicial pronouncements in the past now castigating the same court because its judgment did not go his way,” the statement noted.
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The Presidency said Obi claimed the Supreme Court Justices didn’t consider public opinion in delivering what has been applauded as a most profound judgment in an election appeal.
“Incidentally, the LP candidate presented the most watery and unreasonable petition before any court in the history of electoral cases in Nigeria.
“He made false allegations of rigging and other electoral malpractices yet could not produce any evidence to back up his claims at both the court of first instance and at the apex court.
“In a failed effort to mobilise and retain the support of his supporters, Obi gave them a forlorn hope that he won the election and would prove it before the courts.
“Throughout the trial, his lawyers didn’t present any alternative results different from the results INEC uploaded on the IReV portal and the ones signed by all party agents from the 176,000 polling units.
“We wonder how the LP candidate expected the courts to do justice on the basis of rumours, lies and false narratives by sponsored partisans and fanatical members of his ‘Obidient Movement’.
“We expected the LP candidate to know that the Supreme Court or any other court does not give judgment based on public opinion and mob sentiments.”
The presidential aide noted that judicial pronouncements are based on evidence, precedents and the rule of law.
“Having admitted that the supreme court ruling brought an end to litigation and any challenge to Tinubu as the validly elected leader of Nigeria, Obi should have congratulated Tinubu for his victory and pledged his support, in the spirit of statesmanship.
“But instead, he brought up extraneous matters that he thought the apex court should have considered to declare him the winner.
“In our view, the drowning Obi, just like Atiku, was merely attempting to hold on to a straw in raking up new allegations, which exist only in his imagination and that of his hordes of supporters,” the statement added.