Peter Obi doesn't plan to step down for Atiku - Campaign teams

The Peter Obi Support Network and the Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation have rubbished claims that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, will drop out of the 2023 presidential race for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

The pact rumours: Obi is one of the main contenders in the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in May next year. However, his emergence has been deemed a threat to the chances of Atiku hence the insinuations that he might withdraw from the race to bolster the former Vice President's prospects.

This position has also been advanced by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN) on numerous occasions.

In a recent post on his verified Twitter handle, the Minister quoted an online medium that claimed that Obi and Atiku had a pact, alleging that the former Anambra State Governor would step down at the heat of the campaign and urge his supporters to vote for Atiku in 2023.

Posting the link to the story with the headline, ‘Obi agrees to deal to clear path for Atiku’s emergence’, Keyamo wrote a caption that read, “We told the OBIdient soldiers that their ‘hero’ was taking them to nowhere; taking them for a ride of the century and for political 419! We laugh! We are ahead of them.”

More conspiracy theory: In a similar development, a staunch supporter of Atiku, who identified as a member of the Atikukawai Media Group, Adamawa Lastborn, responded to a tweet by the Director-General of the Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation, Doyin Okupe, saying, “You were not informed? Okay, continue. Obi is a great member of Atiku’s political family. I am sure you are one of us. You don’t love Obi more than us. I am confident PO (Peter Obi) will support #Atiku4SURE. Na family issue (sic). It isn’t for strangers like you. Let’s get #Atikulated.”

Obi's teams refute: However, while reacting to Lastborn's comment, Okupe said the claims by the publication and Keyamo were false.

Writing on his Twitter page, Okupe said, “By the grace of God and the massive acceptance and support of the Nigerian people home and abroad, and especially the youths, Obi is far ahead of all other presidential candidates in the country

“He, therefore, cannot, logically, be negotiating with any other less popular candidate(s) or their parties. Members of the public are hereby advised to ignore this cheap, self-serving and distracting propaganda, which we also believe is not coming from the Atiku camp.”

In his own reaction, the spokesperson of Peter Obi Support Network, Jones Onwuasoanya, said, “If there was any arrangement between Atiku and Obi, it would be that the former will step down for the latter.”

Onwuasoanya added that Obi is more patriotic and has proven ideas to rescue Nigeria from bad governance.