Yunusa Tanko, the spokesperson for Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has raised alarm about orchestrated plans to blackmail his principal by linking him to frivolous and unsubstantiated allegations of indulging in religious politics.
Tanko made this known in a statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Onitsha, Anambra.
According to him, some people operating under the guise of civil society and non-governmental organizations have been recruited by some powerful political interests to petition the former Anambra governor.
He debunked the allegations that Obi is indulging in religious politics, stressing the blackmail aims to malign the former Governor’s purely altruistic motives in supporting underprivileged Nigerians of all faiths.
Tanko noted that Peter Obi fully understands the constitutional dictates of separation of church/mosque and state and that Nigeria is an undisputed secular state.
He further said that his primary concern in and out of public office has always been pursuing the welfare of society’s underprivileged, whom he believes should have a better life given the abundant human and natural resources bestowed on this country by God.
The statement read, “The Peter Obi Media Reach (POMR) wishes to alert the public of a fresh orchestrated design to blackmail the 2023 labour party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, by linking him to frivolous, malicious and unsubstantiated allegations of indulging in religious politics.
“We are aware that some persons operating under the guise of civil society, and non-governmental organizations, but acting at the behest of some powerful political interests, have been deployed to petition and accuse Obi of playing religious politics.
“The aim is to malign Mr Obi’s purely altruistic motives in supporting underprivileged Nigerians of all faiths. The ploy is to erroneously claim that he goes to religious places to carry out political campaigns off-season.
“We should ordinarily ignore such mischievous ploys as they are only intended to distract attention from Mr Obi’s patriotic and compassionate position.
For the avoidance of doubt and the protection of the gullible in their midst, it has become imperative to restate the truth and the facts.
“What remains an undisputed fact, is that Peter Obi’s charity work predates politics and he would never be intimidated to change this personal disposition, which he believes is an assignment for him from his creator.
“We, therefore, urge the public to ignore any insinuations of co-mingling politics with religion; and see them as a grand design to limit Mr. Obi’s freedom of movement and citizenship welfare action.”