2023: Gov Ugwuanyi’s Aide Urges G5 Governors, Sen Nnamani to Support Obi

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart in Enugu State, Mr Emmanuel Ikechukwu Jonathan, Wednesday, called on the members of the G5 Governors of the Peoples Democratic Party to support the presidential aspiration of Mr Peter Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba Ahmed, in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.

Jonathan made the call in a press statement made available to THE WHISTLER in Enugu. He said the leadership of the PDP ‘appears to lack the constitutional and moral backing to punish any member of the party over alleged anti-party activities’.

The PDP leadership is also in violation of Section 7, sub-section 3c (Aims and Objectives) of the constitution (as amended in 2017), which states that the party ‘shall pursue its aims and objectives by adhering to the policy of the rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principles of equity, justice and fairness’, he stated.

Jonathan said he was speaking as a concerned Nigerian and not in his official capacity as an aide to Governor Ugwuanyi.

Quoting him, “If truly the G5 Governors and Senator Chimaroke Nnamani are fighting the injustice and political maneuvering against them at the PDP presidential primary election, they should channel their support to Peter Obi of the Labour Party who is from the zone whose turn it should be to produce the occupant of Nigeria’s presidential seat.

“Anything short of supporting Peter Obi’s presidential ambition by the G5 Governors and Senator Chimaroke Nnamani is an act of personal interest and not a people-based interest.

“The Southwest and South-South have on different occasions produced the occupants of Nigeria’s presidential seat in the persons of General Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr Goodluck Jonathan since the return of democracy in 1999.

“Considering to support Senator Bola Tinubu by Sen Nnamani is not in defence of justice but his personal interest. The G5 Governors and Senator Chimaroke Nnamani should read the body language of Nigerians to understand what the people want now, and the sentiment of the people across the country is to vote for someone with sound health and capacity to change Nigeria for the better, bearing in mind the level of suffering in the country at the moment.

“What Nigerians want now is to vote for someone that will entrench good leadership, enhance peaceful cohesion, equity, justice and fairness. Peter Obi encompasses all these qualities.”

Jonathan said he was supporting Mr Obi and his running mate, Sen Yousuf Datti-Baba Ahmed of the Labour Party, despite being a PDP member ‘as a protest to the injustice meted to the Southeast zone and the non-adherence of the dictates of the PDP Constitution 2017 on rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices’.

THE WHISTLER reports that Jonathan, a journalist, is the director general of the ObiDatti Apostles Presidential Campaign Support Group, whose objectives include ‘to preach the message of hope that the Obi-Datti presidency will bring to the table and also get Nigerians to be prepared to vote for the Obi-Datti team’.

It would be recalled that Senator Nnamani was recently suspended by the PDP for campaigning for Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress instead of PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, ahead of the 2023 elections.