Vice Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Dr Doyin Okupe, has picked holes in a publication by one AG Mahmoud, who accused the LP Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi of insolence and hatred of Nigerians of Northern extraction.
Arguing that most Nigerians see Obi as the only one among the four leading presidential candidates that is best suited to bring Nigeria out of her numerous present challenges, Okupe said Nigerians have wronged one another and it is time to make sacrifices to save the country.
According to him Mahmoud’s entire write up “is a well written ‘treatise’ aimed at damaging the growing national acceptance of Peter Obi and incense the electorate of the North against his candidacy.”
He said: “I will not argue on the authenticity of the accusations or the merit or demerit of the venomous write up. I will rather mention here that over the years we have all offended one another and committed acts that stoke the embers of hatred on all sides. And this is applicable to all ethnic groups, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Southern and Northern minorities, all across the entire Nigerian communities.
“For a fact, the whole nation went to war against a single ethnic group , the Igbo. This tribe was on the receiving end of a three-year war. We all know how devastating that war was on the Igbo, psychologically, financially, emotionally and positionally in the scheme of things in Nigeria. Those who bore the brunt of the evil of that war cannot be said to be in a loving relationship with their assailants.
“The North up till today has not forgiven the Igbo for the role of the five Majors during the 1966 coup. Also the east holds it against the west that the late leader of the Yoruba finally dropped off from his initial support of the secession plan only to later team up with the federal government against Biafra.
“The Yoruba on their own side hold it against Zik, the Igbo leader that he dumped Chief Awolowo to later form government with the North, led by Alhaji Balewa. Or how can we not mention the visceral pains the Yoruba feel for the annulment of MKO Abiola’s election and his subsequent demise!
“So, it is that in our past we all have offended, maltreated and jeopardized the interest of one another. We have come to a point in our natural history when we must bury the pains and intrinsic hatred we feel, begin the process of healing and of forgiving one another. Going the route as copiously espoused by AG Mahmoud in his write up, is to expose the nation to an ill and foul wind that does no good to anyone or any section of the country.
“The teeming youths who increasingly support Peter Obi are moved with the passion to rescue their lives and reset the country for greater, brighter and a better future which presently is being threatened by the very sentiments being propagated by AG Mahmoud. In this season and times, most Nigerians, enemies or foes alike, of Peter obi, are united in the belief that he is the only one of the four leading candidates that is best suited to bring Nigeria out of its numerous present predicaments and challenges.
“I will admonish well meaning Nigerians, for the sake of a better and greater future that a Peter Obi’s leadership guarantees to exercise greatest restraints in the type of negative sentiments we bring up just to score political goals. Nigeria is on divine wisdom through Peter Obi, to recover its lost glory and be great again. May the Almighty God show us Mercy, heal our pains and help us all to make the sacrifices we need to make to secure the future of this nation and the well-being of its teeming youthful generation.”
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