The 2023 presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said that neither the Southeast geopolitical zone is captured nor the country drifting towards one party state.
Obi also allayed fears that a single political party can “capture” any region on the basis of a fresh gale of governors defection hitting some states..
The former governor of Anambra State stated this in Abuja on Wednesday while reacting to the recent defection of Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah and his Bayelsa counterpart, Douye Diri, to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
He said people, and not the governors or Senators, would determine their political direction in 2027, added that Mbah whom he described as his friend, must have done his calculation before defecting to the APC.
“The people will decide where to go, not governors or senators. No party will capture or win any state just because it has a governor,” Obi said.
“Peter Mbah is a good friend of mine, and I believe that as governor, he must have taken his decision based on his own political views and calculations.
“As for the alleged plot to capture the South-East, we are not in a military time when you capture people.
“You are a leader. You tend to do the right things for them to follow you. So I don’t think anybody is capturing anywhere.”
Obi also urged public officials to pay more attention to good governance and policies that directly improve the lives of citizens, warning that no amount of political realignment can guarantee loyalty from the people without performance.
“The government needs to do more if it wants the people to support it,” he added.