The All Progressives Congress (APC) Igbo group under the umbrella of Omalegwuoku Progressive Initiative (OPI)/Igbo Kwenu for Asiwaju/Shettima has said that it was insulting for the Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi to call out President Bola Tinubu over alleged certificate forgery.
Obi had while addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja called on the President to clarify his state of origin and educational qualifications for Nigerians.
But responding during a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, the Global President of the group, Mrs. Ginika Tor, said it was ironic for Obi to be asking for Tinubu who had governed Lagos State for eight years to tell Nigerians the state he hails from.
She stated: “I had already put up my speech and suddenly I realised that my own brother that I respect so much, Peter Obi, who is also the presidential candidate of Labour party, he came up on ARISE TV to say that our president, a man that is the number one man in this country should come out and explain his state.
“So by now, a man who served 8 years as a governor, you don’t know his state? Should tell us his background educationally, is that right?
“It is an insult to Nigeria as a nation. For you to call out our president who was massively supported, elected, confirmed and validated as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to come and stand before who? To say he’s from this state, from this country, from this region, from this locality. Does he owe us that? What the President owe us now is to take us to our destination of choice.
“So, I am disappointed in a man that I respected so much, my brother, who stood in front to run for Igbos. It may not be his turn now, but it could come in future. But whatever he does now is going to play out in the future. So let us be cautious and let all Igbos not be misled by this press interview that our own brother granted ARISE.
“We are telling our brother, Obi, calm down, if God wanted you to be there, He would have made you the President. He did not. There is a lot of distraction on this President, are you not bothered with the issues of the world?…”
Tor further said that the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar was still suffering from a severe post-election loss trauma and a near-presidency syndrome following his defeat at the polls on his fifth presidential contest.
She added that the former vice president’s post-election trauma ballooned following the unsuccessful prosecution of his brief by his legal team at the Presidential Election Petition Trubunal (PEPT) filed a petition lacking in substance and direction.
Tor stressed that the group initially chose to refrain from making comments on the issue because it was before the court, but decided to debunk the lies being told by such Atiku who should place patriotism and national interest above his personal ambition to be the number one man in Nigeria.
According to her, To seek to impugn the character of Nigerians before the International community in the manner he is going smacks of desperation.