● They keep under-rating us, but we’ll surprise them on election day – Bauchi Labour Party Chairman
The State Chairman of the Labour Party, Barrister Hussaini Saraki, has said that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, will shock and surprise all those saying that they have no structures to win the 2023 election.
He expressed optimism that Obi would win the election because Nigerians were tired of the present administration of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, pointing out that they had failed everyone.
He said this while addressing a crowd of supporters of Obi at the end of their One-Million-Man March, which took place around some streets in Bauchi metropolis on Saturday.
He said that despite the continuous insinuations especially by the APC and PDP that the Labour Party had no structure to win the 2023 elections, the movement had demonstrated otherwise.
“As lawyers say, that facts speak for themselves. You can see the crowd here today,” he stated.
He added that: “They say we don’t have structure, but we have just proved them wrong. We believe that structure is not all about buildings neither is it about posters or billboards; structures are the people and we have the people on ground.
“You can see the crowd and this is even without much publicity, some of our people at the rural areas of Bauchi state are not here but even with that, you can see that the crowd is so much and everyone is proud of this crowd.
“We are sending the message back to them, that Nigeria belongs to the youths and we have said that we want our country back and this is the process. We don’t believe in violence, we believe that because we are ‘OBIdients’ and ‘OBIdiently’ we are going to the (Presidential) Villa, by God’s grace in 2023.
“They don’t see us, it is on the day of the election that they will be surprised. In fact, we even appreciate the way they keep underating us that we don’t have structures, but I assure them that when the time comes, during the elections, they’ll just be seeing voters coming from the nooks and crannies of this state voting for Peter Obi of the Labour Party; then, they’ll be shocked and surprised.”
Saraki said that Nigerians will vote for Obi because they are all tired.
“I want you to know that our youths, our mothers and everyone is tired. We are tired of the lies, we want to see actions and Peter Obi and the Labour Party are coming with a mantra to change Nigeria from a consumer nation to a producer nation.
“Most of these countries that we go to import rice from, some are islands who don’t even have land, we go to Singapore, we go to Thailand just to buy rice whereas Niger and Benue states can feed the whole African continent. We are saying that, with Peter Obi, there’s hope for Nigeria.
“In Northern Nigeria, not just the south, Fulani, Tiv, Hausa and all tribes have put heads together and we will vote for Peter Obi. We’re going to surprise them, we’re not going to use ethnicity, religion or any other factors to divide Nigerians. We are united, we are after actions and results and Peter Obi has been tested and we believe he can deliver,” he said.
On why they chose Nigeria’s Independence Day for such a rally, he said: “We deliberately chose Independence Day as the day for our ‘1 million man march’ because it is on that day this day that Nigeria got independence from her Colonial masters. We want to use the same day to show that, by God’s grace, today is the beginning of the process of taking power from them. They took power from the colonial masters and we will also take this same power from them. We are ready to take Nigeria back from their hands.”
Asked of the chances of Obi with Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress in the race, he said: “We are doing our best to inform and enlighten people on who Peter Obi is. The truth of the matter is that, Tinubu and Atiku have acquired so much resources, but how did they get these resources?
“Peter Obi is a business man; we all know that and he is transparent. When he was the Anambra State governor, he left behind billions of Naira in the account and not just that, he is the only retired governor who has not received one Kobo as retirement benefit till today.”
Speaking on Nigeria’s independence, Saraki concluded that: “There is a lot of underdevelopment across the country. Look at the countries that have also gotten independence, look at Ghana for instance, do you want to tell me that the level of transparency and developmental changes taking place in Ghana are taking place in Nigeria?
“We have to call a spate a spate. It is our own responsibilities as youths and youngsters in the field of politics, we will no longer digress from the mainstream politics, we want to be there and we will be there by God’s grace at the Villa and we will make the necessary changes.”
Also speaking, the Labour Party candidate for Zungur/Galambi/Miri state Constituency, Elisha Yakubu, said the time to take back Nigeria from those who have destroyed it has come.
“It is time for real change in this country. Honestly speaking, we are tired of what is happening in this country. We are going out with all our strength and take back our freedom from these people who have destroyed our nation.
“The leaders we’ve all had have destroyed this country because they have not been good leaders, but we have a good team – Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti, and we are confident on what they will do to change the narrative.
“We are with them 100 percent and everyone of you should come out with his/her PVC so that we will show them that we are not joking about taking over power from them. They say we don’t have structure, but who are you all? You are all the structures,” he said. (Adapted from National Accord)
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