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I’m too influential to accept presidential ticket from Peter Obi’s Labour Party: Bashir Ahmad

The former social media aide to the president has faced online ridicule since failing to clinch the House of Representatives ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Kano.

• June 12, 2022
Peter Obi/Ahmad Bashir
Peter Obi/Ahmad Bashir

Peter Obi’s Labour Party is too tiny for Bashir Ahmad to accept its presidential nomination, the former presidential aide said on Twitter Sunday afternoon.

“The PO supporters never fail to remind me about the results of my primaries, forgetting that the fear of getting 0 vote made their supreme leader, Peter Obi to run away from PDP to a tiny LP, which I am sure with my influence I would be begged to accept its presidential ticket,” Mr Ahmad said on Twitter.

The former social media aide to the president has faced online ridicule since failing to clinch the House of Representatives ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Kano. He said those mocking him are Mr Obi’s supporters.

Labour Party is one of over two dozen registered political parties that are widely considered “mushroom” groups because they are not in the mainstream of Nigerian politics, which is dominated by the ruling APC and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

Mr Obi resigned from the PDP in late May and subsequently picked the presidential nomination of the Labour Party on May 31. He has continued to receive a groundswell of support amongst Nigerians online, although the political establishment has yet to see him as a threat next year.

Mr Ahmad, appointed in 2016, served until last month as one of over a dozen social media strategists for President Muhammadu Buhari, resigning to seek the House of Representatives ticket. He, however, threatened to challenge the party and the primary winner, describing his defeat as dangerous to the party’s image.

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