Former senator who represented Kogi west senatorial district, Dino Melaye has said that Peter Obi was not known nationally until Atiku Abubakar discovered him.
According to Melaye, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), discovered Obi of the Labour Party before his social media supporters.
Melaye while speaking at an event organised by a women’s political group, Diamond Ladies in Politics, in Abuja, over the weekend noted that elections are not won on social media but at the polling units.
“Obi is a fantastic Nigerian, but he was not known nationally until Atiku identified him. Atiku is a talent hunter. Everyone who was a reformer in this country from 1999 till date was a discovery of Atiku.
“Atiku discovered Obi before keyboard warriors discovered Obi. Unfortunately, elections are not going to take place on social media. It is going to take place at the polling units. And those that would vote are the people here. So it is now operation votes must count.”
Comparing his principal Atiku and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate, Melaye said;
“Unfortunately, both of them are very wealthy, but there is a difference. Atiku is a billionaire with enterprise, while Tinubu is a billionaire without enterprise. He has a history of a physical business in agriculture, education, oil and gas, media, manufacturing, and banking”.
Atiku “discovered” Obi in the same sense that Columbus discovered the Americas, despite millions people dwelling their ages before. Melaye should simply say he himself did not know him beforehand instead of generalizing ignorance.
The stuff about “talent hunting” is hot air. Let’s be honest, he picked him because he was looking for someone Igbo in the party and he was the most popular (which makes one wonder what Melaye is going on about).
Frankly, it seems like every election season, politicians like Melaye compete to make the most self-effacing, vapid comments. It causes one to wonder how these people ever make it into office.