The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has stated that there is currently no merger agreement with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), or any other political entity.
Obi provided this clarification during a press conference held in Abuja on Thursday morning, addressing the current state of the nation.
The former governor of Anambra State further emphasized that no formal agreements have been reached with other political parties at this juncture.
He urged all patriotic Nigerians within the political arena to unite in 2027 to unseat the All Progressives Congress (APC), which he accused of ineffectively managing the nation’s resources.
He characterized the prevailing security situation in the country as lamentable, noting that Nigerians are losing their lives unnecessarily due to issues such as banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping-for-ransom.
According to Peter Obi, the incidence of corruption in Nigeria remains alarmingly high, as does the cost of governance, which has resulted in a significant escalation of public debt under the current administration of President Bola Tinubu of the APC.
Obi remarked that government officials have deliberately mismanaged public finances in 2024, citing frequent international travel as a contributing factor.
In the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu emerged victorious in 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states, obtaining substantial numbers in several other states to secure the highest total of votes — 8,794,726, which is nearly two million votes more than his nearest competitor, Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.
Atiku, who has contested the presidency six times, garnered 6,984,520 votes, while Obi, a first-time candidate, achieved a remarkable 6,101,533 votes. The NNPP’s Rabiu Kwankwaso, the former governor of Kano State, finished in fourth place, winning his state — Kano, with a total of 1,496,687 votes.
Interestingly, both Obi and Kwankwaso were members of the PDP just months prior to the last election, but they cited irreconcilable differences as the reasons for their departure from the party.
