Over 20,000 Anambrarians from the 21 local government areas of the state and beyond on Sunday gathered at Emmaus House in the state capital, Awka, to formally receive the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi.
The crowd that spilled over the massive field of the large complex, surged out of the gates into the streets. What was initially planned to be a PDP affair saw people coming from even beyond Anambra State and from across all the parties. Those who spoke with the press agreed, as one member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) put it, “Mr. Peter Obi has become a phenomenon that should not be confined within the restriction of parties. All we are saying is that Nigeria is in trouble and needs a consummate and tested economist like Mr. Peter Obi to restore it on the path of progress and development.”
In a short speech to introduce Mr. Peter Obi the PDP governorship candidate in the last Anambra State governorship election, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, said: “We live in times of fracture and fear, national interest and our collective March for the future of the people of the state. We are here because the ruling APC has ruined the country. Nigeria needs a purposive and tested leadership, capable of confronting the problems of our time – unemployment, acute hunger, mindless borrowing, fractured economy, among others. We are here to receive a leader, Mr. Peter Obi who has the capacity to restore Nigeria to its past glory.”
In his own speech, Senator Ben Obi, after quoting Vanguard newspaper’s report of January 5, 2019 on Nigerians that have been killed recently, said that the only way to stop the atrocities and misgovernment going on in Nigeria is by voting out the APC and voting in the PDP. After reviewing the performance of Mr. Peter Obi in all the positions he has held, he said he had all the qualities required to help Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to restore the glory of Nigeria.
Speaking, the PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, who was at the event with his wife, Margaret Peter-Obi, thanked the people of the state for such unprecedented reception accorded him. He said his mission was to assist the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in restoring sanity to the country by re-creating a country where unemployment would be tackled, jobs created, infrastructure provided and the economy rebuilt.
Earlier, the PDP Chairman in Anambra State, Chief Ndubisi Nwobu, recalled the unkept promises of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) during electioneering campaigns in 2015, including making the naira one to a dollar, reduction in the cost of food items, stoppage of importation of refined petroleum products, among others. He said it is time to vote out APC since not one of those promises was delivered.
Some well known Anambrarians at the event include Chief Hagers Igwebike, Noel Edochie, Godwin Ezemo, and Chairman of Reformed APGA, Azubike Iloh, who led over 10,000 supporters to join PDP.
PDP bigwigs who attended the event included Sen. Uche Ekwunife, Chief Osita Chidoka, Chief Chris Uba, Hon. Chu Chu Onyema, Hon. Gabriel Onyenwife, Hon. Chris Azubogu, and Okey Ezibe, among others.