By Damian Ugwuja

The governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Chief Chijioke Edeoga, has hit back at Mr. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the party, for saying Obidients Movement is different from Labour Party and a philosophy which is beyond Labour Party as a political party.

Chief Edeoga, who was angry with Mr. Obi’s yesterday’s outing at the Arise Television Morning Show where the presidential candidate only identified him as the governorship candidate of Labour Party but refused to campaign for him on the ground of poor performances in office.

Mr. Obi, while responding to the crisis in the state as to who Obidients Movement, core supporters of Peter Obi, should vote for during the March 18 gubernatorial election, said Obidients movement was different from Labour Party, and that people should vote only competent candidates across different political parties.

The presidential candidate had vigorously campaigned for the governorship candidate of the party in Lagos State, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, vouching over the latter’s competence and capacity to deliver. 

When asked about Edeoga, Mr. Obi simply said Obidients should not vote based on party sentiment but only vote for competent candidates in other political parties, adding that Edeoga was just a candidate for the Labour Party chosen by the party through the normal process.

There have been evidence that Peter Obi has been avoiding Edeoga and has refused to campaign for him based on protest by different members of Obidients movement and people in the state about his manifest incompetence, history of leadership failure and indictment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over 2 billion naira stolen fund from the Ministry of Local Government and Ministry of Environment when Edeoga headed them as commissioner. 

However, in an apparent frustration, Edeoga lamented to his aides and members of his political party that Mr. Obi is a betrayal and selfish for trying to deny him support of the Obidients movement.

Edeoga further boasted that without the support of the Obidients movement, he would still win the election with the massive votes from Nsukka zone.

“I have done everything to please him (Peter Obi), but his antics against my candidacy shows he is betraying me. 

“Nobody is a saint, and nobody has a monopoly of competence. I have been in politics for over 30 years and I have the experience and I’m ready to learn while I’m in office. People shouldn’t judge me with the ministry of environment and the dirty that littered the state. It wasn’t my fault. It was caused by population overgrowth and I promise to work on the areas where I fail or didn’t do well as commissioner,” Edeoga said.

Edeoga further called on Nsukka people to see his project as their collective project, saying not even Obidients people would stop him from winning.

It would be recalled that Edeoga has recently come under criticisms for saying he would turn Nike Lake and other decaying water into sources of drinking water for the people of the state.

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