Peter Obi doesn't need Campaign Council to win - Umeh

Senatorial Candidate for Labour Party (LP), Sen. Victor Umeh on Friday said the party does not necessarily need a Presidential Campaign Council to win the 2023 presidential election.

Umeh said the apparent delay in constituting the campaign council was deliberate, saying the party leadership was taking its time to ensure the best team was galvanised.

Fielding questions from newsmen in Awka, Anambra State shortly after receiving award from Ohaneze Ndigbo at its Igbo Day celebration, Umeh described Nigerians as the party's Campaign Council, having taken over the project.

He said: "We are careful in the Labour Party. We don't do things because others are doing. We search for things that will make Nigeria great again. 

"When we searched for Obi's running mate, you saw that we waited to make sure we got someone who matched the pairing. Senator a Yusuf Datti Ahmed is a very seasoned person. 

"The Labour Party presidential ticket has the best brain of people who can give Nigerians what they are yearning for. 

"Peter Obi as President and Datti Ahmed as vice, two of them are young and energetic, very resourceful and knowledgeable. They're going to work as a team to bring modernity to leadership in Nigeria.

"They represent a generation that is well vast in knowledge, a generation that is in tune with the modern techniques of leadership and development. They won't provide leadership by guesswork because they know the numbers and things that will impact on the economy.

Describing the Jos rally as a tip of the ice berg,  Umeh, former National Chairman, All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), maintained that setting up a campaign council is just to fulfill all righteousness.

He added: "We didn't have campaign council and on Wednesday, yet Jos was shutdown. No campaign council can organize that kind of rally. 

"People were overwhelmed even when we have not planned yet. As a matter of fact, people are the campaign council of Labour party.

"It is not about putting down names. Without doing anything, the campaign is already running. What happend in Jos, nobody can mobilize such gathering not even APC or PDP with all their money they possess. 

"In the rally, the Chairman and the presidential candidate were not there but it was still well organized. Yet what they were able to showcase, no other party can do that. Which shows that people have taken over the project, and driving it. 

"LP setting up a campaign council is just to fulfill formality. People want to escape this crunch and pines of poverty in Nigeria. If you love yourself, you'll become OBIdient immediately."