APC berates Obi for playing ethnic card in Nigeria’s election

The All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign council on Friday berated the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, over his perchance to play the ethnic and religious cards.

The former Anambra State governor placed third in last weekend’s presidential election.

He polled 6,101, 533 votes behind the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who garnered 6, 984, 520 votes in the exercise.

The APC presidential flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, scored 8,794, 726 votes to win the election.

However, Abubakar and Obi had both claimed they won the election and vowed to challenge the outcome in court.

The Special Adviser on Media and Communication for the APC PCC, Dele Alake, who addressed the allegation of rigging and collusion with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at a media briefing in Abuja, said the LP candidate would go down in history as the country’s “most dangerous and divisive politician” for using the country’s fault lines to his advangage during the election.

He accused Obi of taking advantage of gullible Nigerian youths who were desperately in search of a hero.

The former Lagos State commissioner for information and strategy also welcomed Abubakar and Obi’s decision to approach the court on the election.

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Alake said: “For Obi, he would go down as Nigeria’s most dangerous and divisive politician. He elevated his well-known clannish mentality to a most unfortunate height by openly anchoring his campaign on religion and ethnicity. He presented himself as a poster boy for and a champion of our country’s fault lines.

“He took advantage of our youths whose expectations are fast paced, who are uninterested in excuses, and who were in search of a hero. He pumped up their sentiments and rode on their emotions while grandstanding as a saviour. It was a false pretence. Obi’s credentials are eternally stained as a former governor with no remarkable legacy.

“Not a few of our youths thought Peter Obi looked like the leader they wanted and many of them could not tolerate any form of scrutiny of their newfound hero. They chose wilfully to canonise him while insisting no one should ask questions. The combination of the disgruntled youths, the ethnic champions, and commercial clerics was the reason Obi thought he could win a presidential election in Nigeria. Such illogic is not strange to the Labour Party.

“If Labour Party could not fill up its quota for polling booth agents with a shortfall of over 40, 000, how did it intend to compete with political parties like APC and PDP? It would be interesting to see what evidence of rigging Labour Party will present before the court when the party could not appoint agents to monitor nearly a quarter of the venues of election,”

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