Apart from his itinerary in-country which has far taken him to all parts of the country on consultation and farmiliarisation, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has also been engaging with diaspora Nigerians on a large scale.
While he is reaching out, candidates of other parties, particularly those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are still bogged down with internal crises.
On August 30, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election had confirmed that Nigerians in Diaspora had concluded arrangements to host him in five US states.
Obi announced his engagement with Nigerians in the U.S in a video posted on social media, which according to him, would start from, Wednesday August 31, 2022 to Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022.
“I’m a guest speaker on the Role of Nigerian Diaspora in Development and Growth of Nigeria, events being organised by Nigerians in Diaspora.
“The events will hold in Charlotte, North Carolina and Dallas, Texas on Wednesday, Aug. 31; Washington D.C. on Thursday, Sept 1; Atlanta on Friday, Sept 2 and New York on Saturday, Sept. 3.
“I look forward to meeting all of you there and God bless all of you,’’ he said in the video.
True to the plan, Obi had in the last few days kept faith with the arrangement.
He was billed to be interviewed on Cable News Network (CNN) Saturday, 3 September, but the interview has been moved to next Tuesday, 6 September.
Obi himself announced the change in a tweet on @PeterObi late Friday.
According to him, “My CNN interview initially scheduled for 3rd September with Zane Asher has been rescheduled to 6th September, 2022.”
Reports had it that Anchor of the global news programme, One World with Zain Asher, Zain Asher will be conducting the interview with the former Governor of Anambra State.
In the interview, the British Nigerian Asher, who also hosts Market Place Africa programme on CNN International based in New York, would run Obi through a whole gamut of issues.
Read also: How Labour Party rides to limelight on Peter Obi’s momentum
His engagements with Nigerians in the Diaspora and their allies have seen him at Toronto, Canada; and in the United States cities of California; Houston; Charlotte, North Carolina; Washington DC; while he is expected in Atalanta and New York City this weekend.
At each of the meetings, he promised to run an administration that would give all Nigerians equal opportunity to serve the country, irrespective of tribe or religion if elected president.
“We will seek to reunite Nigeria through strict adherence to constitutional provisions on equitable representation in federal establishments of our national diversity, especially, women, youths and people with disability,” he said.
Some Nigerians had said that had the Nigerian Electoral Act approved diaspora voting, Peter Obi would have made a clean sweep of the votes of Nigerians offshore given the followership he enjoys with his message of taking the country back from those he said had plundered the country.
Tim Alaribe, a strong supporter of Obi, told BusinessDay that the Labour Party had taken the 2023 general election to another level that arouses the interest of many hitherto uninterested citizens within and outside the country.
“There are those who tell us that Peter Obi’s outside journeys and interviews with diaspora Nigerians would not have any impact since those people would not vote. They forgot that he has revolutionised politics in the country in a space of months. Yes, if the diaspora Nigerians were allowed to vote like it was done in Kenya recently, the election would have been considered over already. We are very sure that many of our brothers and sisters abroad who have listened to Peter Obi would urge their family members at home to vote for him,” Alaribe said.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said recently that the Commission did not as yet have the enabling laws to carry out diaspora voting in 2023.
In an interview with BusinessDay, Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the INEC Chairman, said the Commission had no laws allowing it to do so at the moment.
“The current operative law does not allow diaspora voting. The National Assembly needs to amend the law to allow it. Once that is done, the Commission will put the machinery in place to implement such law,” Oyekanmi said.
