A former Information and National Orientation Minister, Labaran Maku, has admitted many saw the ‘Obidient’ movement and the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi as a joke. However, they were all taken by surprise after the LP candidate won 12 states and polled more than 6 million votes.
Speaking on a Channels TV program, Sunrise Daily which was monitored by the News Chronicle, Mr Maku admitted that the opposition politicians never gave the LP candidate and his supporters a chance.
“What happened in the presidential election as you could see was that there was this wave of young people, the ‘Obidients’ that we all took for granted and we were thinking Peter Obi was a joke. Where would he go?” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain said on the breakfast show Tuesday.
“So, both PDP and the APC, we were thinking ‘This man does not have structure. He will not be able to do so much,” he said.
He, however, maintained that young people proved them wrong and put up an unprecedented showing in the 2023 elections.
Peter Obi of Labour Party who enjoyed a large following from the youth was declared third by the independent national electoral commission (still in court) with a party he joined just seven months before the election, a result many see as a positive one in view of the fact that he face heavyweight political parties and personalities.
