Why Obi May Not Do Well In Borno

The Labour Party may not harvest sizeable votes in Borno State in the upcoming presidential election.

A strong supporter of the Labour Party Candidate Peter Obi in Biu, Southern Borno Aliyu Garga shared this view with THE WHISTLER on Friday.

Obi was a member of the Peoples Democratic Party but dumped the PDP for the Labour Party which gave him its presidential ticket.

There are currently three leading candidates likely to win the February 25, 2023 elections.

Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progeessives Congress and Obi of LP are projected as the favourites to win.

Atiku’s stronghold is the North East while Tinubu is expected to get sizeable votes from the region particularly in Borno where his running mate, Kashim Shettima was a former governor.

But Obi who is a challenger may find it easy to penetrate other states in the region but Borno may be a hard not to crack, according to Aliyu who lectures at the Nigerian Army University in Biu.

“My friends and I are preachers of the gospel of Peter Obi. Yesterday, I went around campaigning with his shirt and people were exited” he said on the recent popularity of the LP candidate.

But he said Obi can get reasonable votes in the State particularly Mubi because people are now knowing him.

“The reason Obi may not win Biu is because his campaign came late to the area else he would have swept votes in Biu.

“People started campaigning for him late. If he had started campaigning in Biu very early, I don’t think it will be easy to beat Obi here. Infact when you assess his popularity here, you will agree that in just few months he has become very popular.

‘Imagine if he came to Biu earlier than this.”

Obi’s campaign train landed in Biu on January 25 , 2022 where he had a townhall and shared his views with the electorates.

Obi is the only Presidential candidate that made historic visit to Southern Borno during the campaign period.

“Obi’s visit to Biu was historic and a game changer for him. He will surely harvest sizeable votes from the Local Government and neighbours but he can’t win the state. We just hope for the best,” he predicted.