A chieftain of Labour Party (LP), Valentine Ozigbo, has stated that the party is willing to enter into an alliance with Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, to support the candidacy of Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential elections.
Ozigbo who said this during a Labour Party stakeholder meeting in Awka, Anambra State at the weekend, noted that the party is willing to partner with other aggrieved APC and PDP leaders to gain their support for Obi’s presidential bid in their respective states.
According to him, “It has become clear that Peter Obi is the choice of every segment of the Nigerian populace for the presidency of this country in the coming election.
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“It is now incumbent on us to let those who don’t have the influence of the social media, who are influenced with money to learn that the little money gets that will not last for two weeks is why you should sacrifice the whole of the next four years; that if you are in a position to resist the money resist it, but, if you can’t resist it, take the money and vote wisely.
“Now, let me say this: we are open to discussing with other parties. Naturally, we will like to see Labour Party in the entirety of the Senate, House of Reps and state Assemblies. That should be our first option.
“But we find that in politics, you have to sit down and negotiate; if there is an APC Governor who there willing to make sure that Peter wins in his state because he has some other people to be supported for senate or whatever, we are open to it. So, politics is local, it is not how you play it in Jigawa, in Imo or in Rivers that you play it in Anambra state
“We can decide and say ‘(Governor Nyesom) Wike support us in River so we win Rivers, and we sit down with Wike, and, say who do you want us to support in Rivers for senate if you can’t go it yourself, so we will open our mind for all possibilities, the important thing is that Peter Obi must be our next president”, Ozigbo stated.
The Rivers state governor’s relationship with the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, had gone sour after the nomination of Delta state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, as vice-presidential candidate.
Although Wike has said he would not leave the party, his recent statements on the crisis in the party and his insistence on the resignation of PDP chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, had further driven a wedge between him and Atiku.
THE WHISTLER reported how former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Wike and Obi recently met in London, fueling speculations that talks of an alliance might be ongoing.