The Labour Party on Friday said the 12 million Nigerians who recently completed online and in-person registration to obtain Personal Voters Cards (PVC) so as to vote in the 2023 general elections are members of the Obidient movement, who are rooting for Peter Obi to become president.
Chief Spokesperson of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council (LP-PCC), Dr Yunusa Tanko who spoke in an interview, described as a fallacy the claim by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that President Muhammadu Buhari already has 12 million guaranteed voters in the North which will be inherited by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
He said given the woeful performance of President Buhari and the APC, there is no way the Northerners will give their votes to the party again in 2023.
“How can you say you have 12 million voters already with a deficit of trust, failed promises and insecurity in Nigeria? INEC recently said 12 million Nigerians have registered to vote in the 2023 general elections.
“The 12 million Nigerian youths that just registered to vote have been clearly earmarked as members of the Obidient movement. That is the reason why they are doing everything possible to manipulate the election.
“They are saying they already have 12 million voters in the North. These people have forgotten that in that region, there is Atiku Abubakar of PDP and Rabiu Kwankwaso of NNPP. These people will divide the votes and the Labour Party will coast to victory.
“Northerners have lost faith in President Buhari because of the myriads of challenges in the region. Insecurity, economic crisis, poverty, lack of education and so on. The National Bureau of Statistics recently said 133 million Nigerians are in abject poverty, four states in the North are listed in these poverty-ridden states. So, where will the 12 million votes come from?
“These people don’t believe in credible elections. This was stated recently by the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu himself in a restaurant in London when he was talking about ballot snatching, harassment and manipulation of votes. The APC national chairman also came out to say that they don’t believe that BVAS machines will work because there is no network.
“These are a bunch of people who want to manipulate and circumvent the will of the people and also trample on the rule of law but Nigerians will resist them with their votes,” he said.