By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and former National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, has warned that the resignation of a prominent presidential aspirant, Peter Obi, would hurt the party.
The former PDP National Publicity Secretary, in a statement on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Abuja, described Obi as an ‘electoral machine’ that the PDP could only ignore at its own peril.
According to Metuh, it is inevitable that Obi’s shocking resignation from the party on Wednesday, May 25, 2022, will cost it so much goodwill.
He wondered why the party elders and leaders would pretend not to know the extent of the damage being done to their ‘beloved’ PDP by this development.
Going further, he warned that it was erroneous for people to dismiss Obi as a politician whose popularity is merely on social media.
Metuh said: “A lot of people have opined that Peter Obi is just a Facebook fad and that he has buried his political future by leaving our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party. I have a short story to tell them.
“Sometime in 2001, Mr Peter Obi romanced with the APF, then a big force within the Anambra PDP. In one of the meetings in Ikoyi Hotel hosted by Sir Emeka Offor, Peter was not allowed to talk and the bulk of the politicians actually made fun of him then. Peter left the PDP and subsequently joined APGA where he sold himself directly to the people. The rest is history.
“Today, the new Electoral Act has afforded Peter Obi the opportunity to campaign for almost 9 months. He is not just a social media fave, he is actually an electoral machine and indeed a phenomenon. PDP can only ignore him at its own peril.”
He said PDP also abandoned him in the past when he was facing prosecution over allegations of corruption, but he overcame.
“I kept the faith even with the apparent neglect and non-challance with my ordeal and travail. I refused to be intimidated and cowed, I rejected the overtures and ever ready to face all and every persecution thrown my way, but this is rather too much for me.
“I hope there is a plan B or a Marshall plan.”