Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, has dismissed the recent claim suggesting his main preoccupation for now is about contesting the next presidential election in 2027.
This rebuttal from the horse’s mouth is coming barely a week after a spokesman of Labour Party presidential campaign council, Dr Yunusa Tanko, debunked the same report, saying there’s no place Obi has ever mentioned such to anybody.
“Our attention has been drawn to a publication in the Daily Post and some social media networks on an interview granted by His Excellency Peter Obi to Arise TV,” Tanko said in a statement.
“We want to quickly point out that this is the highest level of yellow journalism taken too far all in a bid to change the narrative as there was no time HEPO granted such a nebulous interview to Arise TV.”
Obi also played down a report suggesting his reaction regarding the appointees into the President Bola Tinubu “yet to be formed” cabinet.
Obi reacting via his Twitter handle on Saturday, describing the two reports as fake and bogus, adding the news items are “predicated on interviews and press remarks he never granted.”
He tweeted, “I have noticed with dismay, an emerging pattern where fake media reports and news items are predicated on interviews and press remarks I never granted. Two recent instances relate to my saying that I am looking forward to running for office in 2027 on a supposed Arise TV interview that never took place.
“The other is about my reaction to prospective appointees into the Federal Government. Both reports are bogus. Regrettably, our politics have sunken to this abysmal level where manipulation of the media space is now a trade,” Obi said.
“For me, I shall continue to speak on topical national issues via recognized news and media outfits. But I certainly will not concern myself with cheap distractive trolls. My focus and that of the Obidient Movement will not derail from the original mission of creating a new Nigeria which we believe is POssible.
“Our emphasis has never been on political positions or personal aggrandizement, but on putting the nation on the right footing and deepening our democracy by helping to elevate and empower the downtrodden in our society.
“That was why our messages during the electioneering campaigns were all issue-driven,” Obi concluded.
