Duduspree News, Texas
There was a mild drama at the Lagos airport on Wednesday afternoon when supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and some party chieftains were prevented from boarding a campaign plane for their rally in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
The Deputy Director-General and Campaign Manager for the LP Presidential Campaign Organisation, Oseloka Obaze, was the first to raise the alarm following a report that the plane had been grounded.
The former Nigerian diplomat took to his verified Twitter handle on Wednesday to tweet that the ‘Obi-dient aircraft’ was grounded by the ‘powers that be’, citing “regulatory reasons.”
He tweeted, “The Obi-dient plane was grounded today by the powers that be “for regulatory reasons” only. Please ignore any mischievous rumour.
“Our massive rally in lbadan is going on as planned.”
The picture posted along with his tweet also showed a grounded aircraft with the “Obi-dient Movement” inscription on its body.
Despite the hitch, members of the delegation were alleged to have divided themselves with some opting to board a commercial flight to meet up with the ongoing rally at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Adamasingba, Ibadan.
When contacted, the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure, confirmed the report.
According to him, the party and his candidate were just rounding off the rally when Duduspree News called.
This is what we have been saying about this country. It is not the first time it is happening.
They have been using every available opportunity to ensure we don’t get to do anything in this country. They won’t allow us to use venues and billboards in some states. But we will surprise them.
“On whether the leadership of the party found an alternative after the disappointment by the ‘powers that be’ Abure affirmed that the setback forced them to reduce the size of the delegation.“
We made another arrangement to fly to Oyo State. But we had to reduce the number of NEC, speakers and people coming for the rally in Ibadan,” he said.
He said, “We have just finished our rally in Ibadan. It is true that the plane meant to convey our National Working Committee and National Executive Council members for campaign was grounded by the ‘powers that be.’ But we were not deterred by the plane that was grounded.“
Barely an hour after Abure’s interview with our correspondent, the Head of the Media Team for Obi-Datti Presidential Campaign Organisation, Diran Onifade, also released a statement to express the campaign team’s displeasure at the turn of event.
