A former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) Olisah Metuh has reacted to the remarks made by a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri targeted against Igbo people.
This comes after Omokri in a series of posts via his social media handle asked Igbos to leave Lagos for choosing to support Peter Obi instead of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election.
Omokri had said in a Facebook post: “You rage against Tinubu. You insult his ethnicity (who are the most accommodating people in Nigeria and perhaps Africa). You accuse him of using MC Oluomo. You say Obi is far better than Tinubu. You say Obi will turn Nigeria into paradise. Yet, you remain in Lagos and refuse to leave Lagos for the paradise that Obi created in Anambra! The only reason I am against Tinubu is because as a drug lord, he can be blackmailed by foreign intelligence services. Otherwise, he performed as Lagos Governor. If you maintain that Obi did better than Tinubu, prove it by packing your kaya and relocate to Anambra!”
Reacting to the statement, the PDP chieftain stressed that if Omokri is not stopped, his remarks and other similar posts shared by him would be passed off as the party’s official position.
He further maintained that the former aide to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan is not a member of the PDP presidential campaign council, but has been using his closeness to the party’s flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar, to spill bile and make disparaging remarks about Igbo people.
“The time has come for the Peoples Democratic Party to issue a disclaimer to Reno Omokri’s posts. Whilst he is not a member of the Presidential Campaign team, his closeness to the Presidential candidate and his open support for the party may mislead people to believe his posts as representing the views of the Party.
“There is no way any responsible or respectable democrat can condone such insensitivity. We did not join politics to mock or disparage any set of individuals, least of all a whole tribe. The founding fathers of the PDP had noble ideals and its ideals and values should not be desecrated by any individual, on the altar of a false strategy to engineer hatred against any tribe or stroke an ethnic contest. We all should insist on an issue based campaign,” Metuh wrote in a Facebook post.
Omokri uhas consistently attacked Peter Obi and his supporters on social media ever since the former governor of Anambra state dumped the PDP to pursue his presidential ambition on the platform of the Labour party.