By Chiedu Uche Okoye
Mr. Peter Obi’s quest to become the president of Nigeria is the emblematization of the dreams and yearnings of young Nigerians, who want a better and new Nigeria. It cannot be disputed that millions of young Nigerians have lost hope in the Nigerian project.
Decades of oppressive military regimes and years of decadent political administrations have eroded their hope and trust in the Nigerian political leaders. The End SARS protest, which turned violent, offered them the rare opportunity to express their disgust, frustration, and dissatisfaction with Nigeria’s bad economic and political situation.
But when Mr. Peter Obi, a former governor of
Anambra State, who is not cut from the same cloth as our political leaders,
defected to the Labour Party and became its presidential candidate, those young
Nigerians have no option but to queue behind him. Those young Nigerians, who
are followers and supporters of Mr. Peter Obi, are known as the Obidients. They
belong to diverse ethnic and religious groups. But they have one common
denominator: they are disenchanted with the state of things in Nigeria.
So in the aftermath of the the deeply
flawed 2023 presidential election in Nigeria, they chose not to keep quiet. As
the local and foreign observer teams that monitored that presidential poll
condemned it, so did they. Their calls for the cancellation of the Nigeria’s
2023 presidential election were vociferous and strident. And their criticisms
of that election have earned them uncharitable, unprintable, and
uncomplimentary sobriquets from members of APC, the ruling political party in
Nigeria.
The Obidients, as Mr. Peter Obi’s supporters
are called, are accused of being intolerant of people whose views and opinions
are critical of Mr. Peter Obi. And even Wole Soyinka, the first black man that
won the Nobel prize for literature, came down heavily on them. He labelled them
as fascists. Worst still, Mr. Peter Obi and his presidential running mate,
Baba-Ahmed Datti, are not spared vitriolic verbal attacks by those, who are
threatened by their burgeoning popularity and symbolisms. For example, Baba-Ahmed
Datti was accused of committing treasonable felony when he said on channels
television that democracy would end in Nigeria should Bola Tinubu be sworn in
as our president by the chief justice of Nigeria on May 29, 2023.
And, for saying that, Wole Soyinka took a
broadside on him. Channels television paid a fine of five million naira for
that so-called infraction, too. More so, Peter Obi was falsely accused of being
the sponsor of those who opined and clamoured for the emplacement of Interim
National Government until the presidential electoral case is determined by the
Supreme Court.
The proponents of the constitution of Interim
National Government for Nigeria feel that Bola Tinubu will possess enormous
power if he is sworn in as our president before the determination of the
presidential electoral case. And they’re of the opinion that he can use the
enormous powers at his disposal to tilt the case in his favour.
Their argument is not without substance or merit. In fact, they have a valid
point. But Mr. Peter Obi is being crucified by the APC’S honchos for their
opinion.
And so far, the APC-led
government, which is headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, has reversed the
gains and achievements we have recorded since the inception of the fourth
republic in 1999. Instead of offering us good, purposeful, and result-oriented
political leadership that will transform Nigeria, positively, President
Buhari’s misrule of Nigeria has brought about the economic stagnation,
technological backwardness, security challenges, and infrastructural deficit,
which we are experiencing in Nigeria, now.
The APC’S change mantra that heralded the accession of Buhari to the throne has not manifested in Nigeria till now. So the unacceptable and unpalatable condition of Nigeria informed the Obidients’ rooting for Mr. Peter Obi not to relent on his struggles to pursue his presidential electoral case to the end and birth a new Nigeria.
Mr. Peter Obi is the symbol of the people’s disenchantment with
Nigeria’s economic stagnation, technological backwardness, high rate of
unemployment, and infrastructural deficit. But the scurrilous verbal attacks
directed at Mr. Peter Obi and the sinister plots woven and executed against him
may affect him, psychologically, and dampen his enthusiasm to continue fighting
for a better and new Nigeria.
His traducers, who are his
political foes, want to besmirch his reputation, in order to cause the
diminution of his worth in our eyes. And they are working relentlessly and
ceaselessly to create a chasm between him and his supporters. For example, no
sooner did the brouhaha of the leaked audio conversation between him and Bishop
Oyedepo die down than the impersonation of him by an impostor was discovered.
And it is believed that the trouble that has bedeviled the Labour Party is
instigated by the APC stalwarts. It is not unlikely that the trouble makers in
the Labour Party are on the payroll of the APC’S moneybags.
However, I want Mr. Peter Obi to know that he
carries the hope, aspirations, and dreams of millions of Nigerians, who want a
better and new Nigeria for themselves and generations of unborn Nigerians.
Those Nigerians perceive you, Mr. Peter Obi, as a beacon of hope, bastion of
our democratic ethos, and the political Messiah, who will salvage Nigeria from
the cesspool of underdevelopment into which it has fallen.
In conclusion, I would like you, Mr. Peter
Obi, to know that the battle to reclaim Nigeria from the political predators,
ethnic irredentists and chauvinists, and religious bigots shall be a long-drawn
one. The battle cry has been sounded. And the army of the Obidient movement is
ready to assist you in the fight for the birthing of a new Nigeria. So,
don’t chicken out of the fight, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi; rather, you should stay
the course of this liberation struggle.
*Okoye writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State
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