Yabagi Sani, the presidential candidate for the Action Democratic Party, claims that Peter Obi, the candidate for the Labour Party, is making “a lot of motion without movement”, and that he will not be able to secure 25% of the vote in 24 states across the Federation in the 2023 presidential election.
Sani said on Tuesday’s episode of Channels Television’s Political Paradigm show. He is the leader of the ADP and the chairman of the Inter-party Advisory Committee, which is the group that represents all officially recognised political parties in Nigeria.
He disregarded the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, the two parties that have controlled the government since Nigeria’s restoration to democracy in 1999, as the Third Force that Nigerians want to overthrow the cyclical rotating governments of that time. From 1999 until 2015, when the APC seized over, the PDP was in power.
The Third Force won’t bring about the change we need, he claimed, because of how these parties are currently organised and what they stand for.
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Sani also characterised the rising youth support for Obi as merely social media “euphoria.”
“It is an expression of frustration by Nigerians against these two parties (APC and PDP) and this does not translate to victory for Peter Obi…Will Peter Obi be able to achieve 25% as required by the constitution across the board?
“When EndSARS happened, people were thinking that can translate it to become a political force that will effect a change but it fizzled.”
A presidential candidate can only be declared the victor if they “have the majority of votes cast at the election; and have not less than one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in at least two-thirds of all the States in the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja,” as stated in Section 34 of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of Elections.
The ADP presidential candidate responded when asked if Obi had a chance of winning the 2023 presidential election, “I don’t think so if you place it in our political framework, in our formula; what the constitution says you must have. It’s off limits to Peter Obi. Even though Peter Obi can make a lot of noise and motion without actually moving, he cannot win an election.
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Sani persisted, saying that the only advantage Peter Obi has is that he is of Igbo descent and there has been demand for a President from the South-East region.
The ADP candidate questioned the validity and criteria of an Anap Foundation poll that favoured Obi. “Social media isn’t on par with a polling station. Euphoria serves as entertainment. Let’s have some fun, he said in jest.
Sani said that his party is the primary third force because it finished third in the most recent governor’s election in Osun State, behind the PDP and APC, which finished first and second, respectively.
The ADP is a party to defeat in Kano State, where presidential aspirants Bola Tinubu of the APC and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP anticipate strong support, the ADP leader said.
Considering the scandals that accompanied each party’s primaries, he claims that the APC and the PDP are mere reflections of their original selves.
