A former Secretary to the Anambra State government under the administration of Mr. Peter Obi, Chief Oseloka Obaze has admitted that the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi did not secure the required two-thirds geographical spread as specified in Section 134(2b) of the 1999 Constitution.
Mr. Obaze made the admission in a post on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) on Monday while bizzarely weighing in on the anticipated release of President Bola Tinubu’s non-privileged academic records by the Chicago State University today.
Mr. Obaze, who was handpicked by the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi in 2017 to run as the PDP governorship candidate in the 2017 Anambra governorship election, has been part of Obi’s kitchen ‘cabinet’ in the 2023 election season alongside another Obi handpicked PDP candidate, Mr. Valentine Ozigbo.
In the post on X, Oseloka Obaze stated;
“Constitutional Crisis About to Fully Unload: CSU will disclose the damning truth; BAT (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) will resign- KS (Kashim Shettima) will have to go with the ilicit ticket. So too, their sidekicks. The 2023 presidential election will be by fiat of force majure declared inconclusive. What will happen next?
“The Constitution will kick in. Rerun among the top 2 (PDP & LP) will be inevitable – due to spread and FCT factors. Time lapse of 90 days to determine eventual winner. More importantly, Nigeria will heave a huge sigh of relief. Her WORST NIGHTMARE will be over! There is God. QED”
From the post, Mr. Oseloka Obaze was clearly acknowledging the fact that Mr. Peter Obi and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar did not secure 25% of the votes cast in at least two-thirds of the 36 States of the federation and the FCT in line with the mandatory Constitutional requirement to be declared winner of the election even if they secured the highest number of votes cast in the election.
This admission delegitimises the claims of Mr. Peter Obi and his supporters that he won the 2023 presidential election and that his mandate was stolen. According to the results of the election, which Obaze has indirectly acknowledged as being factual, Mr. Peter Obi secured at least one quarter (25%) of the votes cast in just 16 states of the federation including the FCT. Atiku Abubakar on the other hand got 25% of the votes cast in only 21 states of the federation and the FCT.
Therefore, even if Mr. Peter Obi garnered the highest number of votes, he would still need to garner 25% of the votes in additional eight (8) states in order to meet the requirements of Section 134(2b) of the 1999 Constitution. The 16 states where Obi secured at least 25% of the votes cast include: Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Delta, Edo, Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Lagos, Nasarawa, Benue, FCT and Plateau states.
Meanwhile Peter Obi is challenging the ruling of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal at the Supreme Court and praying the Supreme Court to among other things, set aside the judgment of the lower court dismissing his petition for lack of merit and then declare him the winner of the 2023 Presidential election.