LP Alleges Plot To Force Obi To Abandon Suit Against INEC, Tinubu

April 05, (THEWILL) – On Wednesday, the Labour Party (LP) alleged that its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has received warnings to leave the country or face arrest by security agencies.
The alleged warnings are linked to Obi’s ongoing legal challenge to the outcome of the February 25 presidential election, which produced Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), as president-elect.
Tanko Yunusa, chief spokesperson of the Obi-Datti Campaign Council, in a statement on Wednesday, alleged that the former Anambra State Governor is under “immense pressure” to leave Nigeria, as part of plots aimed at forcing him to abandon his legal suit, which is currently before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
But the LP said no amount of pressure or threats will make Obi leave the country, vowing to continue their legal challenge of the election results, despite the alleged plot to arrest their presidential candidate.
The Party called on supporters and members of the ‘Obidient Movement’ to remain calm and vigilant, as Obi has pledged to fight for his rights and the principles of democracy.
“Most unfortunately, in the past few weeks, Mr Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the February 25th, 2023 presidential election has been contacted by associates, elder statesmen, family and friends with concerns for his personal safety.
“These concerns have increased intensely in the last few days as immense pressure has been mounted directly on Mr Obi to leave the country, no doubt from sources allied to the All-Progressive Congress (APC) and its agents in the security services. Mr Obi has been repeatedly and categorically told that he has a choice to leave the country or face the prospect of being arrested on false charges of inciting insurrection in the country.
“It is difficult to fathom and indeed unfortunate and regrettable that state institutions have become part of a well calculated, deliberate and orchestrated campaign of calumny by the APC to discredit and delegitimise Mr Peter Obi and compel him to abandon his right to seek redress in court following the outcome of the last election which was adjudged both locally and internationally to have failed to meet any standard of credibility or fairness”, the party said.
It maintained that a recent audio purporting Obi as telling Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church in a phone conversation that the presidential election was “a religious war” was doctored and circulated as part of a grand plot to de-market Obi.
The party further alleged that the audio had been translated into the Hausa language and is being distributed by some Muslim clerics in the North to mislead residents of the region.
“As part of the grand design, they are circulating a fake doctored audio call. At no time throughout the campaign and now did Mr Peter Obi ever say, think or even imply that the 2023 election is or was a religious war. It is very sad and wicked the attempts to manipulate Nigerians. Our legal team has been instructed to act appropriately and been instructed to take appropriate legal actions against Peoples Gazette and others.