Olorunnimbe Mamora, minister of science and technology, says
it will be a miracle if Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party
(LP), wins the election.
The former senator representing Lagos central said this when
he featured on Political Paradigm, a Channels Television programme, aired on
Tuesday.
Obi’s candidacy has continued to dominate discussions on
social media ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking during the programme, the minister said Obi doesn’t have the necessary structure in place to secure victory.
“What I see, with all due respect, is what you can call
independent candidacy in Labour, and to the best of my knowledge, even in
America, no independent candidate has ever won the presidency,” he said.
“They can win in the senate or house of representatives but
not in the presidential. So, it will be a miracle of the century.
“I won’t dismiss it (support for Peter Obi) but it doesn’t
seem to me that it will be as such as would cause havoc in this system at the
end of the day.
“This is because we do our checks on a regular basis. We
look at the spread; we look at the capacity on the ground. You see, you cannot
underrate the role of structures in politics and particularly in elections
because this is the reality. There are many logistics involved in
electioneering,”
He also played down the support the LP and Obi are getting
from labour unions and youths.
“The same way all these people are saying they will back
Peter Obi is the same way they are saying they will back other candidates,
especially those frontline candidates,” he said.
The minister said while he is not underrating other
contenders in the presidential race, Bola Tinubu, candidate of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), remains the best.
“I said with all due
respect, no one should underrate anyone. In a contest, you don’t underrate
anyone but with all due respect to all these frontliners, Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Kwankwaso, of course, those are the faces we see
when you tune into any channel,” he added.
“So, you cannot underrate, but I am saying that in spite of
that and with all due respect to other candidates, he (Tinubu) is still the
number one candidate to beat. That’s the point I am making.”
Mamora also despite the challenge the LP and the New
Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) poses to the APC and PDP, it won’t be enough for
either of LP or NNPP to win the election.
“It is part of the growth in the system as far as I am
concerned. But again, don’t forget that is just the way it is in all these
other countries,” he said.
“Go to the UK. It is
not as if you don’t have other parties but we’re talking of the Labour Party
and the Conservatives, isn’t it? Go to America — we are talking about Democrats
and the Republicans.”
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