The former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has opined that the 2023 general elections are a testament that the Yorubas do not hate the Igbos.

Obi revealed this while receiving the 2024 Courageous Citizen Award from the Nigerian-American Coalition for Justice and Democracy (NACJD) in FCT, Abuja, on Saturday, June 1, 2024.

Obi hinted that the election was not on a Christian or Igbo agenda.

The former Anambra governor affirmed that the 2023 general election united Nigerians across tribe and religious lines, stating that the poll corrected the impression that Yorubas hate Igbos.

He stated that the massive turnaround was a testament to the fact that Nigerians desired a change from the status quo.

His words were, It was a period in which Nigerians united and spoke with one voice regardless of religion, tribe, or tongue. The 2023 election wasn’t an Igbo or Christian project. 

It was a Nigerian project. I saw our legends come together for the first time. I was happy to see people like Pa Ayo Adebanjo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and others stand their ground.

I am stating this to correct the impression that the Yorubas hate Igbo people. Many people made certain sacrifices because we just wanted to say, ‘Enough is enough’ in Nigeria. Imagine those who had lost their lives for the cause of a new Nigeria.

Obi came in third in the 2023 presidential election after trailing his counterpart from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and the winner, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

But, before the election, many Nigerian youths accepted Obi’s ideology and turned out en masse to vote for him.