FCT, Abuja – Ekwere, the Deputy National Director, Print Media of the Atiku support organization, has said that Labour Party and Peter Obi’s movement are no threat to the aspiration of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Ekwere insisted that the Labour Party has no structure to compete in a national election, stating that the agitation for a total change and the sack of older politicians was unrealistic and would end like the EndSARS.
Admitting that he is a young person affected by the same hardship some Nigerian youths are clamouring to change, Eric said despite that, change cannot be attained overnight.
According to him, there is no political party in this country that does not need a structure to function.
Ekwere said that the failure of the Obedient movement was seen in the just concluded Osun governorship election where the party failed to win a single unit.
The clamour for change must be qualified. But in our own case, it’s not qualified. Someone is just coming to say let’s retire the entire people. Look at the case of Osun, in all the units we visited, Labour Party’s presence was not felt at all. How do you think you will win an election when voters are not on ground to vote for you?”
Dismissing the notion that the 2023 presidential election would be about individuals and not political parties, Ekwere said the presence of political parties in every political unit cannot be ignored.
He said:
Unfortunately, the claim that we are tilting towards individualism as against political parties is false. The presence of a political party in a unit is very important. I have participated in elections for a very long time and I know how elections are won.
For instance, let me use my unit. In my village, I have one unit. In most elections, I’m in charge of one unit, and some other people are in charge of the other units, and regularly, we keep going to the village.
Now, who is the obedient person in Lagos or Abuja, Port Harcourt or other state capitals that go to the village to talk to those people that are not technologically savvy about the obedient movement? There is nobody. There is absolutely nobody. I believe the Obedient campaigners are working towards grassroots mobilization, but as for the coming election, they are nowhere close to it. “
The PDP youth leader said that even though he is a young person affected by the current economic realities, he is not thinking in line with the obedient movement because he believes in what is practically possible.
According to him:
You are talking to a young person, but why do you think I’m not thinking in line with the obedient movement? It’s not because I’m not affected by the current economic realities, it’s because I believe in what is practically possible. I have seen that the current movement is not close to it yet.
“The approach matters a lot. How are we approaching this matter and what are the expected results? When we started EndSARS, the question is ‘was it really SARS?’ Did we succeed in ending SARS? No! Because they only changed the nomenclature. The same people are there and they are still brutalizing Nigerians.“
Recall that following the movement of Peter Obi to the Labour Party, LP, from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, some Nigerians have started a movement tagged obedient. People have even moved to the Labour party from leading political parties.
The movement has gained ground across the country and on social media. Both young old people in support of the movement believe that a typical political structure is not needed to win the 2023 election.
But the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, have argued that the movement will not go far in the election as the Labour Party lacks the structure to win a national election.