The Labor Party (LP) revealed 1,234 members of the Presidential Campaign Board in Abuja on Wednesday saying that the party will get at least 15 million votes in the 2023 presidential election. The Director General of the Presidential Campaign Board, Dr. Doyin Okupe, revealed the team and said that the retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohamed Zarewa, will be its head.
Some of the members are Mr. Osiluka Obazi, who will serve as Deputy General Manager and Campaign Manager, and Alhaji Yusuf Mitama, Deputy General Manager (North). Also on the Board are Mr. Yunusa Tanko, the spokesperson and Mr. Clement Ojukwu, the Secretary. Mr. Denzel Ketenbe is Deputy General Manager (South); Mr. Isaac Balami, Deputy Director of Campaign 1, and Ms. Eyitemi Taire, Deputy Director of Campaign 3, among others.
Okupe noted that it took 12 million votes for the incumbent president to win the presidential election in 2019 but Labor Party already got 15 million votes on ground. “With the start of the 2023 round of campaigning, the number of registered voters has tripled since 2019. More than 60 percent of the nearly 100 million registered voters today are young people. This shows that there are more new voters on the voter roll than old voters, and all newly registered voters are OBIdients. It is only for us to pray for life until the elections; we will show them. Nigeria is a youthful current and is ready to provide support along the way,” Okupe said.
He added that the Peter Obi and Dr Datti Baba-Ahmed LP card have been lovingly and organically accepted by the people of Nigeria, due to their strong and endearing records, personalities, vision, policies and promises. Okupe also said that the New Nigerian Movement is the most self-financed organic movement, made up of young people. He stressed that the movement had taken on a life of its own and had become an unprecedented and remarkable force in the national equation of Nigeria, beyond imagination.
Dr Okupe added that the ascent of the presidential LP card to number one in the hearts and minds of Nigerians was fueled by the patriotic fervor, creativity and shining example of discipline, character and decency of Obi and Dati. “Unknown to many, a large number of young people and drivers of this movement are active members and supporters of other political parties. These are the people who cannot ignore the overriding excellence in leadership quality, personal disposition, patriotic appeal, public and private service record, and the clear articulation of the vision and governance solutions of Obi and Dati. I dare say as the reality becomes clearer to all, these are the people who will decide the immediate future of this country,” he said.
He said LP hasn’t spent Kobo to organize, influence, or secure the massive following and support he’s been getting from the Obidient movement thus far. “We at the Obi Datti Presidential Organization and the Labor Party are completely humbled by this massive adoption of our candidates, as the preferred candidates for the upcoming elections,” he said.
Okupe assured Nigerians that the party and its candidates would remain committed to honest, clean and cause-based engagement to transform the fortunes of the nation. He appealed to the security and judicial agencies, military retirees and the police, Officers, the middle class, civil servants, professional bodies, retirees, academics, and religious bodies not to feel complacent during elections. “We tell INEC, this is its biggest test in modern history, and it has no choice but to act as a fair, impartial, courageous and patriotic arbiter in the upcoming elections,” he said.
