Labour Party’s structure stronger than APC, PDP, says Utomi

• ‘Two ex-president backing Obi’

Professor of political economy, Pat Utomi, has said two former heads of state are supporters of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

The PUNCH reported Utomi to have spoken in Abuja on Friday during a town hall meeting organised by the BIG-TENT, a coalition of political parties, social movements, and civil society organisations (CSOs), in support of Obi’s presidential ambition.

Utomi, who is the convener of the coalition, did not disclose the names of the ex-heads of the state.

He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) do not have a strong structure like the LP.

He said the group had developed “real structures” for the LP to take Nigeria back from those who had misruled the country.

“Money alone doesn’t win elections. Two former heads of state have said to me they are Obidients. A lot of people want to join the movement without joining the Labour Party to ensure that Obi and Baba-Ahmed win to capture our country back from those who have held us down,” he said.

Utomi also said, “The LP has better structures than the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress. When people talk about structures, I kind of laugh because they don’t understand the meaning of structure.

“The structure is a criminal network of people who can fix elections, and we have to stop that; that’s not structure.

“We at the BIG-TENT have worked at developing real structures and they are going to be shocked at what they will see.

“Many of the Peter Obi support groups have structures on their own that can win these elections. At every poll during the election day, we will have 20 people who belong to these structures.

“When they get to the polling units, it won’t be business as usual. And when they try to mess things up by doctoring information technology from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), they will meet us there because we know they are planning things like that but they will meet us there with technology.”