The Labour Party (LP) has denied an allegation that the supporters of the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, are planning protests across the country. The Presidency had accused Obi’s supporters of the planned protests.
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, who made the allegation via his X account on Saturday, July 20, 2024, said “Obi should be held responsible for anarchy”.
Onanuga also accused the LP supporters of destabilising Nigeria by staging “a civilian coup” against President Bola Tinubu, adding: “If they understand the meaning of their hashtags, they will realise they are clarion calls for treason. Wanting to end an elected government is high treason. Wanting revolution is a call for a coup d’etat, which is also high treason.”
However, the Labour Party, while reacting to the allegations via a statement issued on Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, said the party is known for being peaceful and has severally asked its followers to follow peace. The LP spokesman added that Obi and the party’s supporters have no plan to stage protests in the country.
Ifoh noted: “The attention of the leadership of the LP has been drawn to a tweet from one of the presidential aides, Mr Bayo Onanuga, linking it and its national leader Peter Obi, and very many notable figures in the LP, to the proposed protest.
“We say that there is no truth in that. Labour Party is known for being a very peaceful party and it has, at several occasions, asked its followers to follow peace at all times. We are not known as a lawless group, as was evident in the aftermath of the last general election. It is, therefore, wrong for anyone to link our supporters to the planned protest. Labour Party, Peter Obi and our supporters are not planning any protests.”
