By PETER ANOSIKE

A chieftain of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Chief Nelson Akuma, has said that the thought that Peter Obi would step down for any presidential candidate in the 2027 presidential election is dead on arrival.

Speaking while reacting to the statement by a political organisation that they would reach out to influential Igbo sons to persuade Obi to step down for President Bola Tinubu, Chief Akuma who is NDC Ebonyi South Senatorial candidate hopeful said that Peter Obi is no longer an individual but rather the face of a mass pan Nigerian movement.

He said that he is not speaking only about President Tinubu but also the Salihu Lukman-led G100 who said that they want a single candidate for the political parties in the opposition.

According to him, Obi is running as a candidate of the Nigerian masses who are in dire need of better life, adding that it is only Nigerian people who would tell Obi that they are satisfied with the ways things currently and as such don’t want him to represent them anymore.

His words: “I had a good laugh when I read the report that one political organization said that they would seek the support of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Chief Emeka Anyaoku to persuade Peter Obi to step down for President Bola Tinubu. As far as I am concerned, the organisation just want to be in the news because they know that it is asking the impossible. Peter Obi is the candidate of the youths who make up over 65 percent of the Nigerian population. Is that who you are going to tell to step down? Somebody who has the number on his side. In case you don’t know. All the political parties are conducting secret polls and Peter Obi is leading in all the polls and that is the reason for the attacks against him even by the parties in the opposition. If what I am telling you is not true why do you think they are telling him to step down? They all know that he is the threat”.

Akuma said that those asking Peter Obi to step down are not doing that in the interest of the nation, adding that when powerful institutions panic, it usually means that something hidden is being exposed.

According to him, the powers that be are afraid of Peter Obi and that is why they are spending millions of dollars, millions of hours and using every television channel, every newspaper and every courtroom they could find just to stop him.

He said that you don’t throw so much power on someone who pose no threat to you.

“Asking Peter Obi to step down now seems to be their last option after they have spent millions of dollars, million of hours, using every television channel, every newspaper, every social media handle, every court room they could find to stop him. There is no name that they have not called him: dangerous, IPOB, Biafran supporter, threat to democracy. Ask yourself a simple question: Why? You don’t throw so much power on something that does not scare you. You do not use every tool you have against a man who posed no threat. That is not how power works. Power ignores what it is not afraid of. When the money moves, when the courts move, when the media moves all at once toward the same target, Peter Obi, that is strategy, it is panic, it is fear. And darkness does not panic unless the light is getting close. So this is a wakeup call to all Nigerians to arise and take back their country,” Akuma said

He also warned the Salihu Lukman led G100 that the purpose of the group must not be for Peter Obi to step down for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

According to him, the North-South agreement must be respected.

He said that one of the reasons why Atiku Abukabar walked out of PDP in 2014 was because Goodluck Jonathan flouted the agreement.

According to him, if the group want a single candidate for the opposition parties, it has to be from the South.

Speaking further, he said that what is happening in the Nigerian political space is like when the Jews became afraid of Jesus influence and wanted to stop him at all cost

“Scripture understood this very well. In the book of John, the chief priests and the Pharisees called an emergency meeting against Jesus. They said this man is performing too many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. They were not angry because Jesus was wrong in what he was saying. They were afraid because people were waking up and that is what fear looks like to the powerful. men It does not look like confusion. It looks like urgency. It looks like coordination. It looks like every institution moving in the same direction at the same time. What I am trying to tell you is that the reaction to a man tells you more than the man himself ever could. Peter Obi is not the only presidential candidate but why is he the only one on everybody’s lips. Why must he be the one that should step down, why must he be the one that should not be on the ballot. That shows you that the powers that be are in panic because of his candidacy.”