A former member of the Labour Party, cum retired colonel, Chinyere Obi, has expressed regret for supporting the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
In an interview with PUNCH, Chinyere narrates how suspected political thugs shot her during the election.
According to her, the incident was reported to the Imo state criminal investigation department (CID) and the suspect was arrested but later released. Hence, she petitioned the AIG at Umuahia Police Headquarters, Zone 9.
Speaking about the sacrifices she made for the party during the campaign, the retired colonel said she sold all her properties, bought food items, bags and made customised shirts which were distributed.
Chinyere claimed that neither Peter Obi nor the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure, showed concern for her ordeal as they allegedly abandoned her.
She said, “That’s what it is. I regret joining the Labour Party. I suffered; I drank garri without groundnut despite being a diabetic patient.
“It was a painful experience. I was a Peter Obi supporter. I made a lot of sacrifices during the electioneering but was abandoned after the attack while defending the Labour Party at my polling unit. I was in my village in the Ideato South Local Government Area of Imo State to participate in the election.
“During the first flag-off at Lafia (Nasarawa State), I contributed and shared food to the people who came for the programme. After the flag-off, I invited the Arewa group from the 19 northern states for mobilisation and encouraged them on the need to work effectively for Peter Obi and the party at large. I gave them food and transport fares without any support from the LP chairman. At the grassroots, I bought 200 bags of rice, noodles, bags, and customised shirts as well as other items which were distributed.
“The painful part is that none of the people came to sympathise with me when I was shot. I don’t know the kind of human beings people are. I sold all my property to campaign for Peter Obi. I know if it was Tinubu, I would not be suffering like this. He would have sent for me.
“I challenge them; nobody in the LP did up to what I did for Obi. Not even the National Chairman, Julius Abure. I was busy borrowing money and selling some of my properties, but all he (Abure) was doing was collecting money. Take for example, how can you collect N25m each from 15 persons in Imo State for the same governorship ticket and he didn’t screen anyone out? Who does that?”
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
