Tanko Yinusa, spokesperson of the National Consultative Forum (NCF), says Peter Obi, presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), is not interested in political mudslinging.
The NCF, a political movement set up in 2020, has Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy, as co-convener.
On Monday, Festus Keyamo, spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign, had accused Obi of playing sectional politics, adding that the LP candidate is planning a “fake assassination attempt”.
Keyamo was reacting to a viral video clip in which Obi was reading a message which claimed south-westerners were asked not to vote for him.
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Speaking on the development on Monday in an interview on Channels Television, Yinusa said the LP candidate’s focus is on issue-based politics.
“Let me quote Peter Obi just this afternoon when he was speaking. He said all of the presidential candidates, some of them are his senior brothers and he gives them respect as Nigerian leaders. He has never and will never derogate any individual, especially in the position of leadership, that they have established good relationships,” Yinusa said.
“He has always been interested in issue-based politics and campaign, not mudslinging, not backstabbing, not even mentioning people’s names.
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“But we are also aware that certain individuals are trying to pin issues of religious and tribal sentiments on our candidate, and we have always been trying to run away from it, and that’s the reason why such information they are touting is exactly what their target is.
“We are making it very clear that Peter Obi will not engage in any personal attack on anybody. So, I doubt that particular possibility of the statement they are making reference to.
“To say the fact, Nigerians have gone beyond the issues of personal attacks and consistently, the opposition is always trying to make out of nothing, because quite honestly, our presidential candidate does not have time. His interest is the Nigerian people and he is going to face the Nigerian people.”
The NCF spokesperson also said those supporting Obi do so out of personal conviction, adding that the recent rallies have been organised without participants receiving a dime from the party.
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“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the people are the ones moving this particular movement. This particular election in 2023 is unconventional politics,” he said.
“People are on the streets financing, mobilising, producing billboards and are feeding people by themselves using their own earned resources.”
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