He urged Obi to withdraw his presidential election petition and negotiate with the ‘President-elect’, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Chimaroke Nnamani, former Governor of Enugu state, has asked the candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, “to get down from his high horse”.
He urged Obi to withdraw his presidential election petition and negotiate with the ‘President-elect’, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nnamani who lost his senatorial bid to a Labour Party candidate in the 2023 general elections made the remarks in a statement he made available to journalists on Sunday.
The former Enugu governor said the petition filed by Obi and his party to challenge Tinubu’s victory will achieve nothing.
According to Nnamani, “his petition is dead on arrival”.
He said Obi neither has “the spread” nor “national appeal” that was required to win the presidential election of February 25, 2023.
He continued, “His appeal to non-electoral matters is to demarket the President-elect and besmirch his reputation.
“He does not have near spread and national appeal. His petition is ego-driven, a joke carried too far. His attempt to highlight on non-electoral issues is trying to embarrass President-elect.
“Obi needs to come down from his high horse to allow sedate minds to negotiate on behalf of the Igbo and South East for a safe landing to include our stake in the national palaver and share of the accruals of the commonwealth.
“We must join the mainstream and participate in the making of a new Nigeria. We are not going anywhere. We de kampe and ready to bargain for our own share. It is common knowledge that others are doing the same.”
“Igbo has to confront reality now or be consigned to the backwoods of history. Time to align is now,” he added.
In March, Nnamani blamed the ethnic and religious profiling and attacks on the people of the Southeast living in some parts of Nigeria on Obi’s political journey.
Nnamani, who lost his Enugu East Senatorial District re-election to Kelvin Chukwu of the Labour Party, said that Obi had set the Igbo political trajectory 24 years back, adding that he had become a twin blight and scourge on the land.
The former Enugu governor described Obi’s political trajectory as devious and wicked. He also described it as a dangerous opium served to Christians and Igbos living in different parts of Nigeria.
“Peter "Gringory" Obi has set the Igbo political trajectory 24 years back. He has become a twin Blight & Scourge on the Land. His devious Opium served to Christians within sections of Nigeria and to Igbo domiciled in different sections of Nigeria is wicked and dangerous,” he said.