The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum joined the Labour Party to actualize the presidential aspiration of the party’s candidate, Peter Obi, according to a spokesperson for the OBI/DATTI Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Dele Farotimi, on Tuesday.
Farotimi stated this when he made a live appearance on The 2023 Verdict on Channels Television, saying that the Afenifere and the other top socio-political organizations in the South and North-Central geopolitical zones had already voiced their support for a president of Igbo descent before Obi’s emergency.
He pointed out that the groups had identified crucial problems that were affecting Nigeria and needed to be addressed more than two years prior.
Farotimi said, “We came out with our position publicly – I’m talking about the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, which comprises Ohanaeze, Afenifere, PANDEF, and the Middle Belt Forum.
“All four came together over two years ago and we were speaking publicly about the need for a power shift. After a point, we all came together; we spoke to the need for power to shift, for the sake of equity and justice, to the South-East. All this time, nobody was focusing on Peter Obi.”
The organizations, according to Farotimi, had already chosen a stance. He continued by saying that they had discovered the ideal candidate in terms of competence, equity, and justice in Obi.
The human rights activist stated that the Southern and Middle Belt elites all backed Obi because they thought he understood the need to reexamine the nation’s government and make it work for Nigerians.
He said, “[Obi] was in Labour Party, so of course, we went into the party with him, not necessarily as card-carrying members of the Labour Party.
“But in recognition of the fact that Labour Party presents an opportunity and the platform for the actualisation of these ideals that we have been speaking to all these years.
“If he had remained in the PDP, we may or may not have supported him. He may or may not even have been the one we would have been supporting.
“But today, based on the objective realities on the ground, he is in the Labour Party. We are not concerned about tribal consensuses. We took our positions based on the justice and equity of the situation.”