Some support groups of the Labour Party (LP) Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, on Tuesday threw their weight behind the party’s Governorship Candidate in Lagos State, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour.
Addressing a news conference at the party secretary at Ikeja GRA, the support groups vowed to win the state for the LP. According to the group: “Mr Peter Obi has made us understand that his interest in Lagos is 100 percent. The change must start from Lagos, then it will spread to the rest of Nigeria.
They pledged to do so by mobilising the structure that gave Obi the highest votes in Lagos State during the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
Mr Fortunatus Onyenka, the Convener, Independent Campaign Group for Good Governance in Nigeria, one of the Obi Support Groups, said that they came to Lagos to give full support to Rhodes-Vivour and other LP candidates.
“We are here to encourage him and gather the support that he needs to win this election on Saturday.
“We came all the way from Abuja having concluded the Presidential Election. We thought it wise to secure Lagos.
“Lagos is like the heart of Africa, not just Nigeria. Labour Party securing Lagos is like we have secured Africa. We have gathered all our support groups all over Lagos State,” Onyenka said.
According to him, the group has coordinators in all 20 Local Government Areas of the state.
He said that the group had also done radio jingles in four major languages- Pidgin, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo.
“We are also doing the grassroots mobilisation just to support Rhodes-Vivour to win this election.
“From the operation we have in Lagos as members, we are sure of give LP up to a million votes,” he said.
Corroborating Onyenka, Pastor Vincent Eleberi, the Deputy National Leader, South West, of the group and Elder Augustine Onoro, the Lagos State Coordinator of same group, added that machinery had been activated to deliver massive votes for Rhodes-Vivour.
Also, Mr Kingsley Odum, the Co-Convener, Likesminds for A New Nigeria, another support group for Obi, said they came to Lagos to support Rhodes-Vivour because he was young and the people had so much hope in him.
Odum said: “We need something new, we are working with the new dynamics we are having in politics.
“He is all we need because we need something new and we cannot continue the old way. We are going to do it back to back, we are not backing down, we are winning this election.
“We need Labour Party to win Lagos and we will win Lagos. I have seen it, we have done a lot security wise and we are ready.”
He said that LP would garner more than two million votes.
Welcoming the groups, Dr Emeka Mandela, the Nation Chairman, Special Duties Committee, LP, commended them for exploits during the last Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
Mandela, a former presidential aspirant of the National Rescue Movement (NRM), said that the mandate now was to deliver Lagos State for the party’s candidate, Rhodes-Vivour.
“The Labour Party is going in for another round of elections on March 18 and there are some states that are very important to Labour Party and to Mr Peter Obi.
“Lagos State is the top on the list of one of those states, where Labour Party delivered a complete mandate to recover the state.
“Mr Peter Obi has made us understand that his interest in Lagos is 100 percent. The change must start from Lagos, then it will spread to the rest of Nigeria.
“To the ‘Obidients’, the way we turned out for Peter Obi on Feb. 25, we should turn out triple times on March 18 for GRV( Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour),” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other groups took turns to assure the party of support in Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state.
Support groups at the briefing include: the Naija Live Matters led by Mr Saviour Prince, the ObiDient Lagos group led by Mr John Alor, and the Peter Obi Presidential Support Group (POPSG) led by Chief Innocent Nwaogwugwu.
