Former Senate Minority Leader Enyinnaya Abaribe has criticised those who have connected Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, with the Igbo presidency and the Biafra agitation.
Abaribe claimed that this action was part of a smear campaign to harm Obi’s reputation.
The senator from Abia South questioned why Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, respectively, were not referred to as the “Yoruba presidency” and the “Fulani presidency,” respectively.
Abaribe spoke during a virtual town hall meeting organized by Ikengaonline.
He stressed that the former Anambra State governor should be seen as an individual pursuing his constitutionally-guaranteed rights.
According to Abaribe, critics should stop linking Obi to his tribe and religion.
He said: ”It’s unfortunate that Peter Obi’s emergence which is now a silver lining has come with complications. Tinubu has a presidential ticket, nobody is saying it’s a Yoruba ticket.
”Atiku has a ticket, nobody is saying it’s a Fulani ticket. But Peter Obi got a ticket and everybody is shouting: ’It’s Igbo presidency. Some even try to link him with the Biafra agitation.
”Have they tried to associate Tinubu with the Oduduwa self determination agitation? Or Atiku within the Fulani herdsmen menace or the banditry in the North?”