In its desperation to win the forthcoming presidential poll, the Labour Party, LP, was yesterday alleged to have given financial inducement to curry the favour of some top Northern politicians.
The alleged financial inducement to the tune of $2million is at present rocking the party.
At the centre of the allegation is the governor of one of the oil rich states, who is among those involved in the show down currently unsettling the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The governor is said to be working with a former Secretary to the Federal Government, SGF, Babachir Lawal, who is an aggrieved member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Recall that Lawal fell out with the APC over the party’s adoption of the same faith ticket, as he insisted that a Muslim -Muslim ticket being brandished by the party for presidency did not take into consideration the secularity nature of the country.
AljazirahNigeria source said that a certain governor from the South was fingered to be behind the financial inducement. The source said, the Governor and Babachir Lawal are working together to scuttle the North, especially the North Central zone ahead of the forthcoming general elections and money allegedly exchanged hands in Lagos State recently to induce people to vote for the LP Presidential Candidate Peter Obi.
The source stated that the inducement would make people vote for Peter Obi, LP’s presidential candidate, and thus, weaken the chances of former Vice- President Atiku Abubakar, who is the PDP presidential candidate according to the plan. The source said that it was the grand plan of the G-5 Governors who has formed “Integrity Group”.
Meanwhile, a close aide to Dogara who informed our Correspondent said that the development yesterday cracked the once formidable bloc of ex-SGF Babachir David Lawal and ex-Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who were together against the same faith ticket of the APC, over alleged bribery for the endorsement of Obi the LP candidate.
A group coordinated by Lawal, yesterday endorsed Obi, as its preferred candidate for 2023 Presidential poll.
In a statement released in Abuja, Lawal said that the group comprising some Northern Christian politicians settled for Obi, after a painstaking review and analysis of the alternative presidential ticket holders.
The group, in endorsing Obi, also endorsed his running mate, Mr Yusuf Ahmed Datti, AljazirahNigeria reports.
Besides endorsing Obi and Datti, the group recommended LP candidates to Nigerians, saying they would ensure justice, equity, fairness and unity of the country.
“As one of the foremost critics of APC’s single-faith presidential ticket and also in difference to those who have patiently waited for our guidance as to where to pitch our tent, after a painstaking review and analysis of the alternative presidential tickets, we now wish to recommend the Obi-Datti Presidential ticket.
“We wish to briefly narrate some few reasons among many, why we have endorsed this ticket and recommend it to all Nigerians of good conscience who desire justice, equity and a harmonious co-existence of all Nigerians across tribes, religion and geopolitical regions.
“It is an indisputable fact that the whole of Northern Nigeria is currently mired in several intractable socio-economic problems, due to the activities of several nebulous criminal groups.
“Agriculture, the mainstay of the northern economy, has been abandoned because kidnappers and bandits have prevented people from venturing out of the safety of their homes”, he said.
Lawal also decried the lack of safety in interstate and intercity travels for either business or leisure.
He said this was not only due to un-motorable roads but for fear of attacks by criminals.
“In our quest for justice and equity in the socio-political and religious space of the country, it is obvious that only the Obi-Datti ticket has the potential to deliver”.
He said that the Obi-Datti ticket can speak on the genuine clamour for power shift to the South-East as well as the cry of marginalisation by people of that zone.
But in a swift reaction,
Dogara and a group operating under the auspices of Northern Christian Leaders disowned the endorsement.
They challenged him to produce minutes of meeting where such decision was reached.
A statement jointly signed by Dogara and seven others said while the group is poised to back one of the Presidential candidate, the decision is yet to be reached.
The statement reads: “We want to draw the attention of the general public to the recent position canvassed by our Chairman, Engr B D Lawal as the position of our Group.
“We wish to state that necessary consultations have been concluded, and based on manifestly unassailable empirical data, the group is poised to adopt a position which will be made known to the public at an interfaith event to be held very soon.
“Suffices to say that no one in the group including the Chairman has been mandated to speak to the public about our position at this material time. Based on our Modus Operandi, our position was meant to be presented to the general public at the event above referred to. That has not changed.
“Consequently, the decision to endorse a particular candidate and the statement credited to the chairman are soley the decision and views of the Chairman which he is absolutely entitled to but not that of the group. We hope this statement clears all the queries most of us have been inundated with on this all important subject matter”. In a clear terms, Hon. Dogara and seven others signed the press release distancing themselves from the endorsement of Lawal’s group. They signatories are Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara, HE, Simon Achuba, Hon Albert Atiwurcha, Prof Doknan Sheni, Mela A. Nunge, SAN, Gen Ishaya Bauka ,retd, Prof Ibrahim Haruna, Mrs Leah Olusiyi. (Aljazirah Nigeria)
