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Nigeria elections: What Peter Obi must do to become president – Ajulo
Constitutional lawyer, Kayode Ajulo, said the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, needs more than social media endorsement to win the 2023 presidential election.
The former LP National Secretary gave his opinion on Wednesday in a statement on political issues in Nigeria.
Ajulo said though social media polls were good for a show of popularity, such votes are rather imaginary.
“What will determine the next President of Nigeria are the tangible votes cast at the polling units across the country”, he stressed.
Reiterating that there are about 176,00 polling units (PUs) in Nigeria and 96 million registered voters, he said 93,000 PUs are in the North, while 80,000 are in South.
Ajulo noted that the North-West has the most PUs with 41,671, and 22.67 million registered voters, followed by the South-West with 34,808, and 18.3 million registered voters.
The North-Central, he added, has 27, 514 PUs and 15.68 million registered voters; the South-South with 27, 126 PUs and 15.3 million voters.
The legal practitioner said the North-East has 24,006 PUs and 12.8 million registered voters, while the South-East has 21,631 PUs and 11.49 million registered voters.
“These are facts that will determine 2023. Obi must be able to totally control at least six States outside of his home State, Anambra, before he can win the election.
“This is no time for Obi to just visit Baba Obasanjo, Gusau and other stakeholders for photo-ops. He must put even his recent London meeting with the PDP stakeholders into veritable use.”
Ajulo urged the LP flagbearer to earn the genuine support of governors like Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Samuel Ortom (Benue) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo).
“I know of three formidable governors from the North who have given indications to support him. He has the next two months to do so before electorates pick permanent sides.”
The lawyer further advised Obi to leverage on the national spread of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Ajulo said across the country, the NLC leads over 4 million members from 50 affiliate bodies, while the TUC commands over 3.5million in about 40 affiliates.
“What Peter Obi needs is to involve all the over 9 million strong and indomitable Nigerian workers, and breadwinners in their own right, in his campaigns.
“They are the real structures as each of the affiliates has national offices in Abuja and all state and local governments in Nigeria”, the statement added
