Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, on Wednesday said campaign crowds do not guarantee victory in an election.
The former bank chief said he was not discountenancing rallies in helping to create awareness and mobilise the electorate.
But he said rather than rely on rallies to win over the voting public, the LP leadership should map out other winning strategies.
Otti spoke on the theme: “Roadmap 2023: elections path to victory” at a forum organised by LP leadership.
He said: “As Labour Party, we need to now get more organised because we must win the presidential, governorship, House of Assembly, House of Reps and Senatorial elections that we filled people.
“So, since we must win, we must organise ourselves.
“When people are talking about structure, what they are basically talking about is organisation.
“You may have votes everywhere, but if you have not organised yourselves in such a manner that you can harness the votes, the results may surprise you.
“I charge the leadership of the party to sit down and begin to plan the election.
“Rallies are very good, they mobilise people, they create awareness but I must add that rallies do not win elections.
“So, what wins elections will be the vote.
“We must speak to the voters, a lot of them are still not well-educated.
“We must have people in every polling unit to secure not just the votes but the voters also.
“I can tell you that our opponents are strategising and part of their strategies is that, ‘if we cannot win this election, then we‘ll need to destabilise it’.
“So, on that election day, some people will come purposely to destabilise voting in different polling units. So, we must be prepared for that.”
