Reno Omokiri, a former aide to President Goodluck Jonathan has further downgraded the presidential ambition of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 election.
Obi came a distant third in the last year’s presidential election behind Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The former Anambra state governor is believed to be eyeing the presidency in 2027, and analysts insist that his recent trips across the country is in preparation for the presidential election in that year.
The LP candidate recently affirmed his plan to recontest the highest office in the country following his declaration that he intended to run under the party despite the leadership crisis rocking it.
Omokiri however told him to forget it. “At the end of the day, if you hold the presidential election 10 times, Peter Obi is still not going to win,” he posted on his verified X handle on Sunday.
According to the social media influencer, he offered Obi the same advice ahead the presidential election last year, but the presidential candidate failed to listen to him.
He explained that his advice to the LP candidate, then, was to contest with a former vice president Atiku Abubakar as his ruining mate.
Obi ignored him, he stated.
Omokiri said, “Peter Obi cannot deny that I was the one who recommended him to Waziri Atiku Abubakar. Waziri Atiku Abubakar asked me to help him to choose a running mate.
“I called former President Jonathan, I discussed with him. Former President Jonathan told me, ‘Look, it must be Peter Obi’ and then I told former President Jonathan that I can’t just give this man only one name and so we padded the list with some other people’s names and then we put Peter Obi’s name and made it so rosy.
“And, Waziri Atiku Abubakar chose Peter Obi.
“I told Peter Obi that the best path to the presidency for him is to run as Waziri Atiku Abubakar’s running mate and then be loyal to him.
“And then, when Waziri finishes his tenure, naturally the baton will change from the present to him. He didn’t listen to me.
“If you contest, you are not going to win. The only thing that you’re going to achieve in contesting is that you are going to split the People’s Democratic Party votes and make it possible for Bola Tinubu to win.
“In terms of education, Peter Obi is the least educationally qualified among the others. In terms of achievement while in office, he doesn’t come close to any of Tinubu and Atiku at all,” he stated.
Since Obi lost the presidential election last year Omokiri has been one of his ardent critics.
