The campaign of opposition presidential candidate Peter Obi is ‘anchored on equity, justice and fairness,” the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, said on Friday.

Mr Umahi, a member of Nigeria’s ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC), however, said he believes Mr Obi will not win the presidential election.

The Ebonyi State governor spoke Friday afternoon after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

“Peter Obi movement is a movement that is anchored on equity, justice and fairness. It may not translate to outright win because I must defend my party, I must wish my party well,” the governor said.

Mr Obi is the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP).

Mr Umahi sought to be the APC presidential candidate but lost the party’s primary to the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu.

He also said it is unfair to associate the criminality by insurgent groups in the South-east with Mr Obi.

He said although he remains loyal to the APC and hopes for the victory of the party’s candidate, Mr Obi will win “substantial votes” from the South-east.

“What happened during the primaries of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and APC, were a kind of miscalculation by people, but to say whether they (South-east) are ready for the presidency of the country anytime, I think that the movement of Peter Obi is an eye opener. That’s why I said I love what he’s doing,” he said.

“I’m encouraged by what he’s doing. Because if he’s not doing what he’s doing, it means that the South-east would have been forgotten.

“So why my party takes the victory, he would have prepared a very good ground for the South-east presidency, so that nobody is going to write us off. And you can see the level of his acceptability,” Mr Umahi added.

He said aside from the candidate of his party, APC, he would prefer Mr Obi to win the presidential election in 2023, saying that there is no moral justification for northern Nigeria to be seeking another shot at the presidency after Mr Buhari.

APC chances in South-east
The governor said the APC would face a different battle for votes in the South-east because of the current interest of south-easterners in the presidency and the involvement of Mr Obi in the race.


“It’s going to be a different ball game altogether. Because when the campaign starts, yes, the interest of our people in terms of presidency is there, you can’t wish it away,” he said.

APC crisis
Mr Umahi said he was not surprised by the crisis in his party, arguing that a crisis is inevitable in a “big house” like the APC.


He dismissed claims that the crisis could hurt the party’s chances at the general elections, pointing out that the leadership of the party has set up a “mechanism” to resolve the crisis ahead of the general elections.

“We don’t have issues in the APC like the kind of issues that are in other parties. And I think we are well prepared for victory in 2023,” he stated.

Despite agitations by South-east leaders that the region should be given an opportunity to produce a president for the first time in 2023, the two dominant political parties, APC and PDP, picked their candidates outside the South-east.

Mr Obi, who hails from Anambra State, South-east Nigeria, has been garnering huge support from the region.

The LP candidate was a presidential aspirant of the PDP, before he announced his resignation from the party, a few days before its presidential primary, saying there were practices in the party that were inconsistent with his “belief and persona.”

Many residents of the South-east believe that Mr Obi’s candidacy is an opportunity for the region to take a shot at the presidency in 2023.

Exactly

He's more than that

Peter Obi represents hope for Nigeria.