According to the People’s Democratic Party, the endorsement of Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, on Tuesday by Chief Edwin Clark, a senior statesman and head of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, has further demonstrated the need for the party to make amends with the five disgruntled governors.
In response to Clark’s endorsement, the party’s deputy national publicity secretary, Ibrahim Abdullahi, said this in a news media interview on Tuesday.
Less than 48 hours after former president Olusegun Obasanjo made a comparable endorsement, Clark made the announcement at a press conference in Abuja.
After Major General Muhammadu Buhari, the current president, served for eight years, he claimed it was only fair and proper that the South would produce the next president (retd.).
He revealed that he had previously ordered the Pan Niger Delta Forum’s national leadership to meet with Obi in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on December 23, 2022.
He said after being briefed on the successful outcome of the interaction; he had taken note of some observations which led to the endorsement.
Clark said, “Considering all these factors, and putting His Excellency Peter Obi side-by-side with all other candidates being presented by other political parties, I am convinced beyond doubt, that our country Nigeria has a great opportunity to elect a phenomenal team, the candidate of the Labour Party, and his Deputy, Senator Datti Baba-Ahmad, as President and Vice President respectively.
“I formally hereby announce that I will, therefore, personally, vote for Peter Obi and his vice-presidential candidate on election day, February 25, 2023, as President and Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Abdullahi, the PDP’s deputy national publicity secretary, stated that the party needed to make amends with the unhappy governors.
He stated, “We must able to put our house in order in the days ahead, and the first step is to rekindle our relationship with the five governors. If it happens in our favour, I will be the happiest person.
“If Peter Obi is getting this endorsement from first a former president that has been the most celebrated and the most relevant former president living, and is corroborated by another leader from the South-South who is believed to be the president of the South-South Forum, then it is going to confirm to you that Peter Obi might be the surprise that this country is waiting to receive because clearly, it is looking like we must go to the second ballot and that second ballot is going to determine what will happen.