We thought Obidient Movement, Peter Obi was a joke - Ex-Information Minister, Labaran Maku

Former Information and National Orientation Minister, Labaran Maku, said yesterday that many saw the ‘Obidient’ movement and the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, as a joke.

The LP presidential candidate took the nation by storm when he emerged as a third-force candidate, enjoyed huge followership and scored over six million votes, winning 12 states to finish third in the February 25 presidential election.

Fielding questions on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, about the outcome of the 2023 elections yesterday, Maku admitted that opposition politicians never gave the LP candidate and his supporters a chance.

He said: “What happened in the presidential election as you could see was that there was this wave of young people, the ‘Obidients’ that we all took for granted and we were thinking Peter Obi was a joke. Where would he go?

“So, both PDP and the APC, we were thinking this man does not have structure; he will not be able to do so much’.”

He, however, maintained that young people proved them wrong and put up an unprecedented showing in the 2023 elections.

Continuing, Maku, who was Director-General of PDP Campaign Organisation in Nasarawa State, said: “But the young people seized the initiative from the politicians. And for the first time – what we saw 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 they took advantage of social media to project a programme which has shaken the nation.”