Former Minister of Information and National Orientation Labaran Maku admitted on Tuesday that many members of both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) underestimated Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and his supporters, known as the “Obidients.” Maku, a PDP chieftain from Nasarawa State, explained that the two main parties dismissed Obi because they believed he lacked a political structure and would achieve little. The surprise came with the 2023 presidential election results, which demonstrated that “the youths were not joking.”
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, Maku said, “What happened in the presidential election was a wave of young people, the ‘Obidients,’ that we all took for granted. We thought Peter Obi was a joke. Where would he go? Both PDP and APC thought ‘This man does not have structure; he will not be able to do much.’ But the young people seized the initiative from the politicians. For the first time, in Nasarawa, Edo, several other places, and in Delta State—where the PDP vice‑presidential candidate comes from—we saw that young people were serious about what they were doing and used social media to project a programme that has shaken the nation.”
While acknowledging that the PDP lost the presidential election in his state to the Labour Party, Maku claimed that the APC’s victory in the governorship poll was flawed. The Independent National Electoral Commission declared APC candidate Bola Tinubu president‑elect in the early hours of March 1, after he polled 8,794,726 votes. However, Tinubu’s win was not unchallenged; PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar and Labour Party’s Obi, who emerged as a significant third force, dented the former governor’s support, especially in Lagos State, where Obi defeated Tinubu in a state traditionally considered an APC stronghold.
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