A group in the southeast says it would ensure that Mr Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) secures 99 per cent of votes cast in the geo-political zone in 2023.
National Coordinator, Southeast for President 2023 Movement, Rev. Okechukwu Obioha made the declaration on Sunday in Enugu at the Obi-Datti support groups conference organised by the Alliance For a New Nigeria (AFANN).
Obioha said the group would not give rival political parties the opportunity they had at the 2015 and 2019 general elections where they scored between 5 per cent and 20 per cent of votes cast in the Southeast.
“We were looking for an alternative and with the movement that is going on in the country as well as our grassroots movement, Obi is sure of 99 per cent votes from the Southeast.
“The group has been sensitising the electorate on the logo to vote,’’ he said.
Obioha stressed that just as deceased President Umaru Yar’Adua was not president of the north and President Goodluck Jonathan was not president of the Niger Delta, Obi would not be president of the Southeast, but of Nigeria.
The coordinator commended AFANN for organising the conference, and said it would unify all the various support groups for the LP presidential candidate.
National Coordinator, AFANN, Mr Okoro Louis, said in his remarks that the conference was aimed at galvanising all pressure groups supporting Peter Obi to unite and work as a team.
He said the conference would help to initiate and implement ideas for the success of the presidential candidate.
“We have started organising the groups. We have office and we are inviting all support groups which do not have offices to use our office.
“AFFANN is using this opportunity to ask everybody to come together so that our ideas will work as a team.
“From what I saw today, the various groups support the conference,’’ he said.
In his remarks, AFANN’s Director, Legal and Communication, Mr Ejike Nwobodo said it was not asking other support groups to collapse into AFANN, but to work for the common goal of the delivery of the Obi-Datti ticket.
He explained that it was all about cooperation and collaboration; a situation where those with finance can assist those who do not have.
“After today, we look forward to follow-up conferences which will no longer be organised by AFANN,’’ he said.
Earlier, Prof. Eddie Oparaoji, Chairman Labour Party, U.S.A who spoke through zoom said there was the need to bond various groups supporting the Obi-Datti ticket together.
Oparaoji stressed that the LP in the U.S.A would partner and support credible support groups for the actualisation of Obi’s ambition in Nigeria, especially in the Southeast geopolitical zone.
