Obi didn’t oppose oil exploration in North — Campaign council

The Obi-Datti Campaign Organisation has dismissed a news report that the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, opposed the commencement of crude oil exploration in Bauchi and Gombe States.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday flagged off the commercial production of crude oil and gas from the $3bn Kolmani Integrated Development Project.

Located along the fields of Gombe and Bauchi, the Kolmani project, with Oil Prospecting Licence 809 and 810, lie in the Gongola Basin of the Upper Benue Trough, straddling the two northern states.

Diran Onifade, Obi-Datti campaign’s Head of Media, in a statement, said Obi had not made any reference to the oil exploration in the North East at any time.

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He, however, said Peter Obi is supportive of any endeavour aimed at improving the economic fortunes of Nigeria.

The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the false information mischievously attributed to the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, portraying him as being opposed to the commencement of crude oil exploration in Bauchi and Gombe States.

“The fake news deliberately targeted at the North East and North West regions of the country claimed Mr Obi made the statement in an interview in Ibadan, Oyo State where he addressed a rally on Wednesday, 23 November 2022.

“We hereby State categorically that apart from his campaign speech, which has been widely reported, Mr Obi did not speak with any journalist while in Ibadan.

“He has also not had the cause to make any reference to the oil found in the North East at any time. Peter Obi is supportive of any endeavour aimed at improving the economic fortunes of Nigeria.

“He has stated time and again that his plan for Nigeria’s economic turnaround rests substantially on the vast land of the North. He, therefore, urges all Nigerians to regard the fake news as another ploy by desperate political principalities to hold on to the last straw as they are clearly about to lose their stranglehold on the people and resources of our dear country.”