Presidential Town Hall Meeting: Obi lashes out at Melaye for backlash, name-calling
By Adeyemi Adekunle
It was a fierce tussle between Mr. Peter Obi, The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, and the spokesperson for the Peoples Democratic Party presidential campaign council, Dino Melaye, as the former governor of Anambra state got angry on Sunday and lashed out at the former Senator who represented Kogi West Senatorial district at 8th Nigerian National Assembly.
This occurred at the presidential town hall Series in Abuja on Sunday, coordinated by the Centre for Democracy and Development and Arise Television.
Trouble began when Melaye reportedly called an attendee of the meeting ‘Obi people,’ saying “Obi people, na wa o.”
On listening to the words of the past lawmaker, Peter Obi snarled, “Stop that Dino. Why are you always calling me? I won’t take that. This man is from the ANPP. Why are you naming him Obi people?”
Dino faked unawareness but Obi asserted that he would not approve of such a manner.
He told Melaye, “Stop that, I have taken enough from you here. Why are you always calling me?”
The debate comprised the presidential contenders of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Rabiu Kwankwaso; Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who represented Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party.
NigeriaOnNews gathered that security and the economy were the key discussions at the debate.
Peter Obi while speaking at the presidential town hall meeting said he would have acted swiftly to rescue kidnap victims if he was the Commander-in-Chief, narrating government reactions to kidnap events as soft.
The former governor stated that he would also have a thought-out process and show empathy to the families of the victims.
He said further, “There was a letdown of processing and conveying due attention to intelligence which I would have given due intelligence and quickly dealt with. Government efforts and communication were weak. And I think that shows the across-the-board need for us to improve our intelligence processing and provide immediate feedback, whenever such a situation arises.”
“Insecurity would have been curtailed to the lowest point if more people were brought out of poverty”.
A Nigerian trained investigative journalist, who cover various news beats in Nigeria.
