The Peter Obi Media Reach on Saturday reacted to the allegations made by the presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, linking the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to the upcoming nationwide protest.
Grassroots Parrot had reported how a group of people were planning to commence a nationwide protest on August 1, 2024, to press home their demand over the poor economic and other challenges in the country.
In a lengthy post on his verified X handle on Saturday, Onanuga claimed that Obi’s supporters are behind the planned nationwide protests against the Tinubu administration.
The presidential aide said Obi and his supporters should be held responsible for any mayhem that may occur in the protest, alleging that “they are not democrats but anarchists.”
Onanuga accused the protest organizers of lacking the patience to wait for another election in 2027 and instead “destabilizing Nigeria by staging a civilian coup against President Bola Tinubu.”
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He claimed that those organizing the protests were also behind the ENDSARS protest of October 2020, which later turned violent, and urged security agents to interrogate the “agents of destabilization” behind the demonstrations.
But in its swift reaction, the Peter Obi media office described the allegations as wild, wicked, and baseless, saying that the presidency was planning to use the planned protest to arrest Obi.
In a statement issued by its spokesman, Yunusa Tanko, on Saturday, the media office said the “unsubstantiated allegations are being orchestrated to arrest Obi and limit his freedom and association.”.
Tanko also stated that the allegation was an attempt to stop Obi’s propagation of good governance, which the presidency found injurious to their lavish lifestyle.
He added that the former governor of Anambra State has not in any way shown or been associated with violence, even in the most obvious provocations.
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The statement reads, “The attention of the Peter Obi Media Reach, POMR, has been drawn to the wild, wicked, and baseless allegations by one of the Spokespersons in the Presidency, Bayo Onanuga, accusing the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, of being the mastermind of a planned protest in the country.
“The statement even said that Obi should be held responsible for any mayhem that may occur in the protest. But POMR can report from a good and reliable authority that these unsubstantiated allegations are being orchestrated to arrest Obi, limit his freedom and association, and stop his propagation of good governance, which they find injurious to their lavish lifestyle.
“Peter Obi, by his mien in and out of political office, has not in any way shown or been associated with violence, even in the most obvious provocations. He has always shown, even during the electioneering, that he is issue-driven, as he carries on without calling anybody’s name.
“POMR is also aware that multiple attack dogs have been hired and strategically deployed to ensure that Obi does not enjoy the ear of the Nigerian populace, who are keen on hearing his voice on issues.
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“These spine doctors and hirelings, to justify their pay, indulge in all kinds of falsehood ostensibly to distract Obi and confuse Nigerians who already see Obi as a suiting balm in the current turbulent political and economic environment.”
The media team urged Nigerians to ignore the Presidency’s cheap blackmail as Obi and his supporters all over the country and in the diaspora remain resolute in their search for a new Nigeria.
“It added, “All the problems, real and imagined, created by their insensitivity and lavish lifestyle, they have curiously tried to link to Obi. Notable challenges of the administration, which are a consequence of their actions and inactions like fuel subsidy fallouts, growing poverty in the land, inflation, nepotism, and unresolved historical conflicts, among others, they blame all on Obi.
“POMR, therefore, wishes to urge Nigerians to ignore the Presidency’s cheap blackmail as Obi and the Obidient family all over the country and in the diaspora remain resolute in their search for a new Nigeria that is possible and would not be cowed or be made to lose focus.”