Group accuses opposition of twisting Peter Obi's speeches

The group described such antics as a futile effort intended to discredit the former Anambra State Governor and bring him down to the level of their candidates.

This claim was contained in a statement issued on Sunday, and signed by the Director, Strategic Communication, Peter Obi Support Network, Onwuasoanya Jones.

As reported by The Punch, the group alleged that the new gimmick being deployed by other presidential campaign organisations is a pointer to the fact that, “they are intimidated by the sure-footed knowledgeability of Peter Obi on statistics and necessary information of world economy, governance structure and secrets of successful, secured and democratic nations of the world”.

“The resort to faking his speeches and attempting to put words in his mouth is a strategy by the struggling opposition to attempt to slow down the energy and passion with which Peter Obi, who is undoubtedly, the most acceptable, most prepared, and most patriotic of the candidates, have approached the contest.

“Apparently intimidated by the sure-footed knowledgeability of Obi on statistics and necessary information of world economy, governance structure and secrets of successful, secured and democratic nations of the world, operatives of opposition presidential campaign organisations and their political parties have shamefully resorted to outright distortion and mischievous misquoting of Peter Obi’s speeches.

“This is in a futile bid to discredit him and try to drag him to the level of their candidates, whose ignorance of facts of good governance, measurable standards of working societies and the key differences between failed and working nations are well advertised.

“As the foremost support group of the Peter Obi Presidential Project, we wish to state unequivocally that our candidate is neither flippant nor does he gamble with figures and facts, rather as a keen researcher and passionate seeker for solutions to Nigeria’s numerous challenges, he makes sure to reels out accurate figures and provides the right information in comparing Nigeria’s dire economic, social and security situation with those of other countries of the world.

“We say without fear of contradiction that Peter Obi has continued to restructure the way we play politics in this part of the world by focusing on issues and presenting credible and workable data from across different developed, developing, and underdeveloped nations across the world to give hope to every patriotic Nigerian that, indeed, this country can work again and that with the right leadership in place, Nigerians can regain their pride of nationhood.

“The resort to faking his speeches and attempting to put words in his mouth is a strategy by the struggling opposition to attempt to slow down the energy and passion with which Peter Obi, who is undoubtedly, the most acceptable, most prepared, and most patriotic of the presidential candidates, have approached the contest. We can assure them that this game is a failed one, as Peter has set off on a journey to salvage our dear country and no force can stop this idea.

“It is also defeatist on the part of these candidates and their campaign organisations that, instead of embarking on their own investigative voyage on how to make Nigeria work, they sit lazily in their cosy hotel rooms and grumble over their incompetence and obvious unpreparedness for the task of reworking our dear nation.

“We challenge these disgruntled “fact checkers” and their sponsors to provide any credible evidence of Peter Obi’s speeches where he gave out any of these wrong figures that they associate with him or keep quiet and learn from Peter Obi on how to run a proper presidential campaign.”

Obi is one of the frontline presidential candidates ahead of the February 2023 general elections.