Peter Obi in Ijawland
Sixteen Days before the all-important 2023 Presidential election in Nigeria, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi on Thursday got a huge boost to his aspiration with an endorsement from the umbrella body of the Ijaw people known as Ijaw National Congress, INC.
The landmark endorsement was carried out at the Ijaw House, Yenaoga, Bayelsa State, on Thursday morning during an interactive session with the apex Ijaw socio-cultural body.
The Ijaw, who are spread from Sierra Leone to Gabon, dominate Bayelsa State, have sizeable populations in Delta, Rivers, and Ondo States, and are spread around the coast of Nigeria. They have a population strength of about 4 million, which could be about 2% of the Nigerian population of 200 million plus.
The endorsement by the INC is a follow-up to the one done by Southern Ethnic Nationalities comprising, the Yoruba apex group, the Afenifere, Pan Niger Delta Forum PANDEF, the Umbrella body of the Igbos, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Middle Belt Forum announced in Abuja last week.
The LP Presidential flag bearer during interaction told the Ijaw National Congress that he is seeking the people’s mandate to fill the vacuum created in our polity by successive leadership failure.
He told the people that a new Nigeria is possible and it has to be based on justice and equity where the people’s resources should be used to develop their areas.
The former Anambra state Governor assured the Ijaw that he and his Vice are determined to create a new Nigeria where the people will live in peace secured and in harmony.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had led the high profile Nigerians that includes first Republic Minister of Information Edwin Clark, and renowned jurist Afe Babalola among others to endorse the LP Presidential candidate who is enjoying the massive support of Nigerian women and youths.
