.Indigenes, PDP, other parties thumb up for Atiku’s running mate
By Valentine Amanze
Sunday, January 6, 2019, was a watershed in Anambra State as over 20,000 indigenes from the 21 local government areas of the state and beyond gathered at Emmaus House to formally receive the Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi, after he was named as the running mate to Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
The crowd that spilled over the massive field of the complex, surged out of the gates into the streets. What was initially planned to be a PDP affair saw people coming from even beyond Anambra State and from across all the parties. Many people who spoke to the press agreed that Obi was a likable person and popular among all politicians.
A member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) member, who pleaded anonymity, said, “Mr. Peter Obi has become a phenomenon that should not be confined within the restriction of parties.
“All we are saying is that Nigeria is in trouble and needs a consummate and tested economist like Mr. Peter Obi to restore it on the path of progress and development.”
While introducing Obi, the PDP Governorship candidate in the last Anambra State governorship election, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, said, “We live in times of fracture and fear, national interest and our collective march for the future of the people of the state. We are here because the ruling APC has ruined the country. Nigeria needs a purposive and tested leadership, capable of confronting the problems of our time – unemployment, acute hunger, mindless borrowing, fractured economy, among others. We are here to receive a leader, Mr. Peter Obi, who has the capacity to restore Nigeria to its past glory.”
Also, Sen. Ben Obi, after quoting a newspaper report of January 5, 2019, on Nigerians that have been killed recently, said that the only way to stop the atrocities and misgovernment going on in Nigeria is by voting out the APC and voting in the PDP. After reviewing the performance of Mr. Peter Obi in all the positions he had held, he said he had all the qualities to help Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to restore the glory of Nigeria.
But, the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP, Mr. Peter Obi, who was at the event with his wife, Margaret Peter-Obi, thanked the people of the state for such unprecedented reception accorded him.
He said that his mission was to assist Atiku in restoring sanity to the country by re-creating a country where unemployment would be tackled, jobs created, infrastructure provided and the economy rebuilt.
The PDP Chairman in Anambra State, Chief Ndubisi Nwobu, who recalled the promises of the APC during electioneering, including making the Naira one to a dollar, reduction in the cost of food items, stoppage of importation of refined petroleum products, among others, said that it was time to vote them out since not one of the promises was delivered.
Some well known Anambrarians as Chief Hagers Igwebike, Noel Edochie, Godwin Ezemo, the chairman of reformed APGA, Azubike Iloh led over 10,000 of their supporters to join the PDP. Who is who in the PDP, who attended the event include Sen. Uche Ekwunife, Chief Osita Chidoka, Chief Chris Uba, Hon. Chu Chu Onyema, Hon. Gabriel Onyenwife, Hon. Chris Azubogu, Okey Ezibe, among others.