The Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora has affirmed that presidency is not for the Labour Party, stating that they can settle for Senate and the House of Representatives seats.
Mamora said that although there is an increasing growth in the popularity of the party, it is not enough to displace APC’s candidate, Bola Tinubu whom he described as “the man to beat.”
Mamora said this during a program on Channels Television named Political Paradigm .
The Minister said that candidacy of LP’s flagbearer, Peter Obi can be compared to that of independent candidacy in America which has never produced a president.
“What I see, with all due respect is what you can call independent candidacy in Labour, and to the best of my knowledge even in America, no independent candidate has ever won the presidency. They can win in the Senate or House of Representatives but not in the presidential, so it will be a miracle of the century.
“I won’t dismiss it (support for Peter Obi) but it doesn’t seem to me that it will be as such as would cause havoc in this system at the end of the day. This is because we do our checks on a regular basis. We look at the spread; we look at the capacity on the ground. You see, you cannot underrate the role of structures in politics and particularly in elections because this is the reality. There are many logistics involved in electioneering.”
The former Senator representing Lagos Central added that the support the LP and Obi are getting from the Labour Unions and the youths are immaterial, stating that the same people supporting them are also supporting other candidates.
He said, “The same way all these people are saying they will back Peter Obi is the same way they are saying they will back other candidates, especially those frontline candidates.”
The Minister stressed that of all candidates contesting for the presidency, Tinubu remains the best for Nigeria.
“I said with all due respect, no one should underrate anyone. In a contest, you don’t underrate anyone but with all due respect to all these front liners, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi and Kwankwaso, of course, those are the faces we see when you tune into any channel.
“So, you cannot underrate but I am saying that in spite of that and with all due respect to other candidates, he (Tinubu) is still the number one candidate to beat, that’s the point I am making.”