The Senior Pastor of Awaiting The Second Coming of Christ Ministry, Pastor Adewale Giwa has reacted to the suit Peter Obi filed against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to challenge his victory in the 2023 Presidential Election.
Pastor Giwa said he knew Peter Obi couldn’t have gone far, noting that it is not yet his time. He stated that Peter Obi betrayed his boss, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who he said brought him to limelight, and that if Peter Obi really loves Nigeria, then he should have waited in his political party (PDP) to fight the battle.
Reacting to the statement by Pastor Giwa, Abel Onoriode, a public affairs analyst said; “there is a tantalizing hypothesis that if Peter Obi had stayed in PDP, and contested as running mate to Atiku Abubakar; PDP would have easily coasted to victory in the 2023 presidential election as the whole of South East, South South, infact all the states won by Labour Party would have voted massively for PDP.
“This may not have been the case. The massive support which was near a revolution that Peter Obi had, was as a result of the way he was treated by PDP and the youths’ yearning for younger presidents in the country, as well as the well-publicized frugal lifestyle of Obi”, Onoriode said.
“The South-East had vowed not to play second fiddle in the 2023 presidential election. Their position was either the presidential candidate or nothing.
“Again, the whole of Southern region of the country was resolute on producing the next president after President Buhari eight years stint. Ex President Buhari is from Katsina State in the Northern region.
“It would have been difficult for anyone to predict correctly the outcome if PDP had fielded Obi as running mate to Atiku in view of the zoning arrangements between North and South in both APC and PDP, which PDP jettisoned by fielding Abubakar Atiku who is from the same region with Buhari”, he added.
On the cases of Labour Party and Peoples Democratic Party against APC victory at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, Onoriode said: “Although LP and PDP have closed their cases, APC’s legal team who will commence defence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory on Monday, 3rd July, said they are very confident that the cases of PDP and LP would be struct out.
Recall that when PDP refused to zone its party’s Presidential ticket to the South, but rather threw it open, Peter Obi left the party and joined Labour Party.
In the 2019 presidential election, Obi was Atiku’s running mate under PDP, but they ran short of defeating Buhari and his running mate, Osibanjo.