The camp of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has accused the Nigerian government of being afraid of Obi’s growing popularity.
This is as it dismissed accusations that Obi was trying to pull a political stunt over his request to greet the victorious national U-17 women’s football team, the Flamingos, at the Abuja International Airport.
The NDC candidate’s representative claimed that Obi is a man on the move, and was at the airport to board a commercial flight for scheduled engagements across the country when he crossed paths with the victorious girls.
The representative dismissed claims that the former Governor of Anambra State wanted to exploit the situation for political gains.
The Obi camp said the federal government and officials and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are increasingly unsettled by the opposition leader’s widespread public support.
“I don’t understand what they mean by our candidate playing to the gallery.
“Every Nigerian knows that Peter Obi is a man on the move. He has engagements across the country, and at that time, he was at the airport just like any other traveller trying to catch a flight to his next destination.”
“It just so happened that the Flamingos were there at the same time, and like any patriotic Nigerian, he simply wanted to greet them and congratulate them on their victory,” the spokesperson said, as quoted by Channels Television on Wednesday.
NEWSNGR reports that the campaign team further alleged that the Abuja incident was not an isolated event, asserting that the government had previously used security or administrative barriers to prevent Obi from interacting with victorious Nigerian athletes during public appearances.
Obi’s camp described the government’s reaction as political anxiety arising from the NDC candidate’s growing popularity.
“This is not the first time this has happened.
“He has been prevented from greeting victorious Nigerian athletes before. This latest incident just shows how jittery the government is. They do not want him taking the spotlight because wherever Peter Obi goes, Nigerians rally behind him,” the representative said.
