By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

A group of kidnapped persons have been released by the bandits who abducted them, after they were identified as Obidients – supporters of the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi.

Obi’s running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, disclosed this yesterday, Tuesday, December 10, 2023, while addressing an LP Presidential Campaign Rally held at the All Saints Cathedral, Onitsha, Anambra State.

“The very day we’re inaugurated, we’ll stop killings and start healing. Recently, bandits released their abductees simply because they identified themselves as Obidients,” Datto told the mammoth crowd that attended the rally. He did not, however, disclose when the incident happened and the identity of the beneficiaries.

Datti told the crowd that he decided to work with Obi because of his belief in justice, equality and fairness.

He asked Nigerians to hold them responsible if they fail to deliver in their promises, insisting that the February 25 election was good as won.

Datti said: “The joy and fun I’m having here has made me forget the cost of foodstuffs in the market, and forget they’re stealing our money.

“APC is being deceived by your money in their pockets, and PDP who forgets easily is being deceived by the small money in their pockets they want to spend. This election is good as won.

“Peter Obi is a shining star who will move the country from consumption to production. With Obi and I under the Obidient movement, noting will stop us from rescuing Nigeria.”

In his own speech, Obi said that the difference between him and Datti and other presidential tickets is obvious: “If you have not created wealth, you can’t manage it,” he said, adding:

“Datti and I are businessmen. The only way Nigeria can change is to hand it over to wealth creators.

“The more you employ people, you’ll pull them out of poverty. I’ll fight poverty and out of school children in Nigeria. All parts of Nigeria will celebrate me.

“The work of a leader is not to complain but to find solutions. We’re not going to remind you of your past, but build your future. We’ll use factor endowment, taking advantage of oil in South South, groundnut in North.

“We’ll ensure police won’t harass you again. We’ll recruit more officers and train them to know how to relate with the public.”

Obi called on Nigerians to choose between thieves and stingy people in the 2023 general elections.

“They say I’m stingy. Between those who stole and those who saved them, who do you prefer? If our previous leaders were stingy, we wouldn’t have been where we are today,” he added.

Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, promised to increase international airports in the country to six and also pledged to end flooding in Nigeria by dredging both rivers Niger and Benue.

According to him, his team is coming to end suffering and build a new Nigeria, regretting that nobody is safe in the country.

While noting that many families are begging to eat, Obi added: “We’ll secure and unite Nigeria. What I did in Anambra, I’ll do in Nigeria. We’ll negotiate, but whoever that refuses, we’ll tell him there’s government.

“Anambra is a trading and manufacturing city; we’ll support all businesses in the state. We’ll do same in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Borno. Every part of Nigeria will be productive.

“We’ll open roads. Any tarred road in Onitsha was tarred by me. I built the best road network in Nigeria. Those who left Nigeria will come back; we’ll face exportation to stabilize and reverse naira if we assume power.”

On his part, the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, said people of the state were lucky to have their son as the party’s flag-bearer for the 2023 election.

He said: “Ordinarily, we wouldn’t have come to Anambra because we would have taken it for granted that you’re all Obidient. But because of bad eggs we’re here. In every society, you have both forces of light and darkness, but the former will always outshine the later.

“Onitsha has always produced great leaders and another one is about to happen. Any opportunity lost can’t be regained. We must give Obi 99.9%.

“If there’s any person that will say it’s my turn, it’s Obi. Anambra people are very lucky. We’re not saying you should vote for us because it’s our turn, but because we have competent and capable candidates.”

In his speech, the State Chairman of the party, Ugochukwu Umeh, described Obi as tested and trusted adding that he would not disappoint.

“We appeal to Nigerians to give them opportunity to serve them; we will not be disappointed after their tenure. We tested him as Governor and are sure he won’t disappoint us.”

Wife of the LP flag-bearer, Mrs Margaret Obi, on her part, enjoined eligible voters to go for their Permanent Voters Cards, saying: “It is your only weapon to vote out bad leaders.

“You’ve shown that we have people and you’re behind us. In LP, we have the best team Nigeria can get. A new Nigeria is about to be born. We women have the worth to birth it. With 75% of us, we’ll give Obi 100%.”

She also assured that election would hold in Southeast and would be peaceful.

Former gubernatorial candidate in Anambra, Valentine Ozigbo, said that Anambra’s 2.7 million votes would be given to Obi because he’s the best governor in Anambra and will be the best president.