Official spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, has accused candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, of planning a fake assassination attempt on himself to garner public sympathy and malign the APC.

In a statement issued in response to a video in which Mr Obi accused the Tinubu group of harbouring tribal intolerance, Mr Keyamo claimed to be aware of Mr Obi’s “U.S. strategy” of fomenting ethnic animosity among the teeming population of Nigerian voters.

“We are also aware that plans are afoot by Mr Peter Obi to fake an assassination attempt on himself and hire Labour Party boys dressed in APC caps and T-shirts to attack some Labour Party offices. It is all part of the “U.S Plan”. It is the first in a series of incendiary actions planned by this ill-prepared but desperate candidate.”

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment described Mr Obi as a sectional irredentist who attempted the expulsion of Nigerians from Anambra State while he was governor.

“Here is a man known as a sectional irredentist, with public records showing him expelling Nigerians from a section of the country from Anambra State while he was Governor and has decidedly resorted to an ethno-religious card in his activities and messaging thus far, now accusing his better off being an ethnic champion. What a supreme irony.”

Mr Keyamo said Mr Obi was “a desperate non-starter of a presidential candidate who has decided to resort to crude revisionism, ethnic jingoism and crass insensitivity with a view to whipping up the undeserved sentiment to fuel his faltering ambition that is nothing but a flash in a pan.”

He added that “Mr Obi’s latest stunt is consistent with what is now widely perceived as his adoption of hate as a campaign strategy, having consistently failed to rein in his known and identifiable supporters, mostly domiciled on social media, threatening political opponents with violence and death.”

While campaigns are yet to begin officially, mainstream political parties and their candidates have begun trading words ahead of the 2023 presidential election. In July, Mr Tinubu attacked the Labour Party when he said they “would labour till death”.