‘Nigeria needs your talents’ — Group asks Atiku, Obi not to go into exile

A group known as The Natives says Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), should not go into exile but stay back and contribute to the development of the country.

Last week, Obi said he was under pressure to leave the country following a leaked telephone conversation between him and David Oyedepo, founder of the Winners Chapel.

But Obi dismissed the recording as fake, and said: “These have come and continued to manifest in different ways, such as the malicious accusation of the Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed, the circulation of a fake doctored audio call, and a pressure on me to leave the country.”

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Smart Edwards, leader of the group, said the talents of Abubakar and Obi are needed to develop the country.

“We are hearing rumours that some presidential candidates of various parties have started leaving the country, this is a trademark of any politician who is just an opportunist,” he said.

“We, however, call on our respected Labour Party candidate, His Excellency Peter Obi to please stay in the country because his talents, ability and his contributions are needed in this country as a patriot, he doesn’t need to go into exile.

“We are also hearing that the PDP candidate, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar will soon be on his way back to Dubai, whether he has gone or is about to leave, we appeal to him to stay back because his valuable contributions are needed in this country.

“We encourage all of them to stay back like President Muhammadu Buhari stayed back because that is the process of contributing to the development of our democracy and Nigeria.

“For Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his party lost elections twice but this one he won through proper collaboration and we are asking all to work together for the growth of our beloved Nigeria and its democracy.”