July 20, (THEWILL) – The Labour Party (LP) has said it is delusional for anybody to link its national leader, Peter Obi, or any of its leaders, to the planned nationwide protest against bad governance in the country.
The remarks follow allegations by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, that Obi and some notable figures in the Labour Party were behind the planned protest.
Onanuga further alleged that the organisers of the planned protest were the same individuals, who “hijacked” the #ENDSARS protest of 2020.
“Obi should be held responsible for anarchy. Don’t be fooled: the malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests are supporters of Peter Obi, the failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party. And he should be held responsible for whatever crisis emanates from the action.
“The protest planners are also the same people who were instigated by IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to launch the destructive ENDSARS protest in Nigeria in October 2020.
“ENDSARS began as a genuine protest by youths against the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, notorious for its high-handedness.
“IPOB members planning to extricate the South-East region from Nigeria infiltrated the protest and hijacked it for their own agenda.
“Lagos still bears the scar of the malicious destruction by IPOB elements until today. Two years after ENDSARS, the IPOB and the gullible innocents, joined the Labour Party in 2022 to support Peter Obi, a sympathiser of their cause. They are the people spreading the hashtags ‘EndBadGovernance’, ‘Tinubu Must Go,’ and ‘Revolution2024’, Onanuga wrote on X, adding that the protest would be treasonable
But the LP, in a statement on Saturday, by Objora Ifoh, said the allegation is “the author’s figment of his imagination.”
The statement noted that the Labour Party is known to be a peaceful party, pointing out that on several occasions the party had asked its followers to follow the path of peace at all times.
“We are not known as a lawless group as was evident in the aftermath of the last general election.
“It is therefore delusional for anyone to link our supporters to the planned protest. The Labour Party, Peter Obi and our supporters, are not planning any protests”, the statement added.
It, however, noted that peaceful protests all over the world were initiated and executed by the people and not by the opposition, adding, “No opposition has any control over protests.”
According to the party, popular protests such as in Kenya, Egypt and several other places, were a direct registration of the people’s frustration against the government.
“The opposition has the right to protest, and it is within their constitutional right. It is therefore puerile for the government or anyone for that matter to begin to look for who to blame for the bad governance that is being witnessed in Nigeria today. Nigeria can still get it right if the right policies are initiated.
“We also advise that some aides of the presidency must be cautioned to avoid incendiary pronouncements capable of combusting the nation, all in the name of playing politics”, it added.
Meanwhile, the Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR), has raised the alarm that the allegations against the former presidential candidate are a ploy to arrest him.
Yunusa Tanko, spokesperson of POMR, who described the allegations as “wicked and baseless falsehood”, said the claims were aimed at limiting Obi’s freedom and stopping his “propagation of good governance”.
The statement read: “The attention of the Peter Obi Media Reach, POMR, has been drawn to the wild, wicked and baseless allegations by one of the spokespersons in the presidency, Bayo Onanuga accusing the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi of being the mastermind of a planned protest in the country.
“The statement even said that Obi should be held responsible for any mayhem that may occur in the protest. But POMR can report from good and reliable authority that these unsubstantiated allegations are being orchestrated to arrest Obi, limit his freedom and association and stop his propagation for good governance which they find injurious to their lavish lifestyle.
“POMR is also aware that multiple attack dogs have been hired and strategically deployed to ensure that Obi does not enjoy the ear of the Nigerian populace who are keen on hearing his voice on issues.
“These spine doctors and hirelings, to justify their pay, indulge in all kinds of falsehood ostensibly to distract Obi and confuse Nigerians who already see Obi as a suitable balm in the current turbulent political and economic environment. All the problems real and imagined created by their insensitivity and lavish lifestyle they have curiously tried to link to Obi.
“Notable challenges of the administration which are a consequence of their actions and inactions like fuel subsidy fallouts, growing poverty in the land, inflation, nepotism and unresolved historical conflicts among others they blame all on Obi.”
