Human rights lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju, has reignited his criticism of Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, branding him a “political fraud and opportunist.”
Appearing on Channels TV on Friday, Adeyanju reacted to a letter from Obi’s legal team, in which the former governor threatened to sue him for defamation.
During the interview, Adeyanju alleged that in the heat of the 2023 elections, Obi invited him to a discreet meeting and attempted to offer him money in exchange for political support — an offer he claimed to have rejected.
’In the wake up to the 2023 elections, I was expressing my thoughts on why the opposition should come together and unite against the criminal APC and ‘’rogueish” APC government that will always rig election and that if the opposition is divided, there is no way they can win.
The idea of the Obi candidacy excited me and I said that he needed the buy in of Atiku and Kwankwaso. I even urged Kwankwaso to deputy Obi and urged Atiku to step down for Peter Obi and all that.
In the process of expressing my views, I said Atiku has been running for president in perpetuity. I was just expressing my views as a Nigerian.
Then Peter Obi all of a sudden started to reach out to me to meet me. At the time I was in Dubai or somewhere. He was persistent in reaching out to me and I was avoiding him because I didn’t want it to look like because I expressed my views which seemed to be like in his favor, he now wants to corner me to be one of his supporters. I did not want to join the bandwagon.
I was excited about the idea of Peter Obi because the South East had not produced the President in a very long time except after post independent.
So one of his aides reached out to me and we met. First he commended me for some of my views and said it will be exciting to work together. I said no I am not working with anybody. I now made some observations about the things he has been accused of doing in the past. He tried to explain and I was not satisfied.
I didn’t want to disrespect him and I wanted to leave. Then he got into a room and said he has something for me. He brought one envelope or something like that. He said this is just a small something for coming. I laughed and said ‘’that means you do not know me. And you are friends with former governor Mimiko? You should have asked them about me. If we will do anything, it is because of conviction. It is even me that will bring out of my money and support you. He kept insisting that he is not like that. I said God forbid and left.
I never revealed what happened to anyone”
Adeyanju recalled that during the Ekiti governorship election, he openly criticized Peter Obi for embarking on a trip to Egypt at a time when he felt the Labour Party candidate in the state desperately needed his presence on the campaign trail.
He further alleged that Obi’s associates later tried to discredit him by claiming his criticism stemmed from a failed deal — accusing him of approaching the former Anambra governor with a ₦200 million proposal which Obi allegedly refused.
‘’I observed the pattern about them. They insult people, slander people. His Obidient mob were practically uncontrollable during the last election. I said Okay, this people do not want dissent of any kind or criticism of their candidate, I now said I am now going to leave Tinubu alone and now face him because we cannot have a situation in our country where political extremism becomes the order of the day and Nigerians are living witnesses to the things that happened in the build up of the last election.
We have never had this kind of toxic political experience asides the Burahists. Asides the Buharists, the Obidients are the most toxic political movement we have ever witnessed in this country. They threatened Supreme Court judges, Court of Appeal judges, threatened artistes, threatened Professor Wole Soyinka, insulted everybody in this country because of Peter.
What are the things I said? Everything I said is true? In a civil suit of defamation, truth is a defence. What are the things I said? He is a political fraud. Of course he is. Didin’t he swear that he will never leave APGA, that any day he leaves APGA,let something happen to him..he left APGA. The only thing I forgot to say is that he is a political prosti!tute”
Watch a video of him below…
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DN7ncIcDH-5/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
