The presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) Mr. Peter Obi has described the treason allegation against him by the Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as the height of rascality and waste of scarce resources by the outgoing Federal Government.
Obi who reacted to sundry issues in a live television interview on Monday night, said the minister went to Washington and London to accuse him of treason whereas he was in Onitsha, Nigeria.
“That is the height of rascality. It was even announced in Washington. I committed a treasonable offense and I’m in Onitsha, and my minister went to announce it in Washington. This is the waste in governance we are talking about and people don’t want to understand.
“The amount it cost Nigeria for him to go and announce that in Washington can build a block of six classrooms in a primary school. I’m sure if you go to his village there are so many places where children don’t even have desks or classrooms to go to school.
“Instead of using that money for this purpose, he went to Washington to announce treason against someone in Onitsha. He doesn’t need to do that. From there he went to London, announcing the same thing when I’m in Nigeria. He should have come to see me or invited me and tell me my offense,” the LP candidate said.
He explained that there is no crisis in Labour Party, adding that the reported crisis “is just the rascality by paid agents bent on derailing the party to pursue justice.
“In the Labour Party, we have no issue. Bar Julius Abure is our Chairman and those things you’re seeing are just the handiwork of paid agents who are trying to create confusion.”
Obi denied visiting the president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, explaining that the rumours and accompanying photoshopped pictures being shared on social media platforms were part of moves by the opposition to frustrate his at the tribunal.
“I never visited him (Tinubu). I didn’t. These are some of the things I have been telling you. They have turned the whole thing upside down and into a joke. So, what they (the opposition) do now is think about what they are going to do to cause issues and what they are going to do to label him (Obi) this or that.
“If it is not labeling him (Obi) tribal bigot, or religious bigot when he is not speaking, they will find his family and check whether he has a lovechild and all sorts of things, including misrepresented identity among others, I didn’t visit anybody,” he further explained.
Obi added that despite the allegations of the opposition, he was committed to pursuing his petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to a logical conclusion.
The former Anambra State governor also reacted to his purported arrest in London, explaining that he was only stopped for a routine immigration check, which he said, lasted for about 20 minutes. “I was never arrested nor detained,” he stated.
According to him, he does not hold United Kingdom citizenship, even though he stayed in the country for some period of time, but returned his ‘unlimited residency permit’ to the authorities when he was about to leave the country.
“I lived in the UK in the 90s, from 1993 to 2005. From that time till now is 30 years and I have never been questioned, arrested, or detained in any country in the world.
“I have never been arrested or questioned in any manner. I have never committed any offense. So, what happened was a routine immigration check and that happened not more than 20 minutes and I was given all due respect by the authorities.”
Obi maintained that he is not a religious or tribal bigot, which he was accused of, stating that he couldn’t have been and still made a Muslim from Kano his ADC when he was governor.
He also said he remained the only non-Muslim governor who sent Muslims to hajj, which was attested to, by Muslim community in Anambra state during Sallah.
Obi said while he is not desperate to be president of Nigeria he is desperate to see a better Nigeria that citizens will be proud of.
