Peter Obi wins Labour Party presidential ticket, Pat Utomi steps down

Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, has been named the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, a few days after crossing to the party from the Peoples Democratic Party.

This was announced on Monday at Labour Party’s Convention and presidential primary held in Asaba, Delta State, after two presidential aspirants of the party including Prof. Pat Utomi had stepped down for him.

Utomi announced that Obi is a younger aspirant with the capacity to effect the needed change in the Nigerian system.

Also, another aspirant, 45-year-old Joseph Faduri stepped down.

Obi, who was a presidential aspirant of the PDP, resigned from the PDP and withdrew from the presidential race on the platform of the party on May 25.

He announced his resignation in a letter titled “Resignation From PDP and Withdrawal from the Presidential Contest” addressed to the PDP National Chairman, dated May 24.

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Obi, in the letter made available to newsmen last Wednesday in Abuja, attributed the decision to recent developments within PDP.

Obi was also the party’s running mate to PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2015 presidential election.

Until his resignation, he was one of the 15 aspirants vying for the presidential ticket of the PDP and the party eventually settled for Atiku at its convention May 29 in Abuja.

The Director-General of Obi Campaign Organisation, Dr Doyin Okupe, said Obi is not desperate to become the president of Nigeria but to offer solutions to problems bedevilling the country.

Okupe, who was Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to President Goodluck Jonathan, had said,

“You will recall that consistently former Governor Peter Obi has repeatedly stated that he’s not desperate to be President,

“He is desperate to cause a change, to cause a redirection, to change the way the government of Nigeria is being run. It is for this reason and to offer solutions to the various problems of Nigeria.

“It was for these reasons that he entered into the race. According to what he said in his letter, various development in the PDP makes it virtually impossible for him to find the full expression of his desire on the platform of the PDP.

“This is not to say that all hopes are lost. I can say on his behalf that Nigerians must not give up, we must never give up.”