Demolition Of Obi's Property: APC Crosses The Line!

 By Steve Osuji

Brigandage. Barbarism. Primitivism. Parochialism. Provincialism. These and many more synonymous words raced through the mind when news broke about the demolition of a property belonging to the family of Peter Obi (PO). 

*Obi

This property, said to belong to the brother of PO, former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 elections, which was razed to rubble using stealth instruments of the Lagos judiciary has all the elements and pockmarks of the ruling party, APC, the Lagos State government and indeed, Aso Rock. 

Ikeja GRA is probably the primest (!) piece of property on the mainland part of Lagos. Ikeja is also the administrative seat of the Lagos Government. It therefore stands to reason that every inch of land in Ikeja, especially the GRA area is assumed to be well noted and annotated in the Lagos land registry.

EXPRESSO can assert that no one can move a bulldozers into Oduduwa Street, in Ikeja GRA without the knowledge of the governor of Lagos State. In fact, Aso Rock is probably complicit in the barbarism of last Tuesday. 

This column wagers straight away that the Lagos State government, nay, the Presidency is trying by all means possible, to demolish Peter Obi, the most potent opponent of Tinubu both in the 2023 presidential election and the coming one in 2027.

Obi is therefore, an endangered species; Obi is currently a high-risk element. 

But suffice to say that this government needs no intel; it's indeed a no-brainer and a tragic irony that Obi's life and very survival is inexorably tied to the life and very survival of Nigeria! As it stands, there's not one without the other. It is therefore incumbent upon the Tinubu administration to manage Obi like an egg of the most fragile kind. 

The dubiously demolished property in question belongs to Next Foods, run by Obi's younger brother. 

It was reportedly purchased for N280m in 2011and it is imbued with every title document including Certificate of Occupancy (C-o-O) which is usually signed personally by state governors. 

How on earth would a state high court rule in a multi-billion naira land matter without sighting a defendant and without the gumption to put a call to the land registry down the road?

At play here, of course, is neither law nor justice. It's roguery at the least and political vendetta at its vilest. 

PETER OBI'S OFFENCE: We wager that Obi is being harried because he dared to exercise his inalienable right in a country he is supposedly a citizen; he dared to contest election seeking to be president of Nigeria. 

This is why he's being treated like an outlaw; like a second class citizen in Nigeria. Obi is being treated like an outcast, worse than an illegal immigrant who has no right to property nor economic investment. 

IT'S YET ANOTHER ATTACK ON NDIGBO: Recall that Lagos State government moved to seize Villaska Lodge in Ikoyi, Lagos, the property owned by Sir Louis Ojukwu, the father of preeminent Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. It took a prolonged legal battle and a sustained wave of public opinion for Ojukwu junior to recover and enjoy a property bequeathed to him by his famous father. 

Since APC ascended to power in 2015, it has been an unveiled policy of Igbo diminution. 

President Muhammad Buhari didn't hide his disdain for Ndigbo. Even if he tried, several Freudian slips that revealed the dark recesses of his mind gave him away about Ndigbo.

For eight years, Buhari made sure Igbo got no reasonable federal appointments. 

Worse, when he wasn't enacting python dance military operations in the Southeast, he was describing the Igbo nation derogatorily as a dot in a circle, meaning they are sitting targets for easy decimation. 

Buhari would link Nigeria's rail network to Maradi in Niger Republic while neglecting the southeast in Nigeria.

Buhari seared the psyche of Ndigbo, leaving them with indelible gashes. 

Ndigbo thought President Tinubu would be more enlightened and deal more fairly with them. If only for being co-southerners; or perhaps, to woo them and soften their hearts against second term votes. 

No dice. Tinubu has so far shown Ndigbo uncommon hatred. Indeed, in pursuit of Igbo, he has broken every rule in the constitution pertaining to inclusion. Even a so-called APC state like Imo has no senior minister. 

The only Igbo minister in the Tinubu cabinet that makes any sense is David Umahi in the Works Ministry but he's a certified house negro.

At every turn he would speak to his Igbo brethren as if they were Tinubu's field negroes. In the midst of Tinubu's shege, Umahi would tell his people that the president is the best thing that happened to them since they were created. Tufiakwa! 

IGBOLAND: WHERE THERE'S NO LEADER: Igbo is being used as a toilet mop today because there's not a leader left in the land. Since the demise of Dim Ojukwu, southeast has been bereft of a voice in national affairs. 

It is sad that the class of leaders that has emerged since 1999 has been particularly poor. 

Consider the likes of Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK), Chimaraoke Nnamani, Rochas Okorocha, Okezie Ikpeazu, Hope Uzodinma, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Sullivan Chime, etc. 

OUK for instance was in the 1999 class of governors like Tinubu.

But did you see this same fellow who ought to be a statesman in his own right going about donning a stupid aso-ebi for Tinubu '27, breathlessly gallivanting across the country begging to be noticed.

Talk of a total absence of self-esteem. None of the characters listed above can stand up and speak as an Igbo leader. After eight years as state governors, they morph into EKUKE, the mangy dog foraging from bin to bin. I weep when I see Okezie Ikpeazu trailing Nyesom Wike like he's SA, Protocol. 

Where are Igbo former Senators, Ministers, retired Generals, Justices, etc. Why have they gone into hiding? They don't want to die, yet they are dead already! 

It's because of feckless leaders as listed above that Ndigbo are getting the short end of the stick in Nigeria. It's the reason that APC is emboldened to demolish a property belonging to an Obi sibling.

Would APC dare to breach any property related to Atiku Abubakar or Rabiu Kwankwaso?

A village wag says if you act like a rat, pussycat would make a go at you! 

LAST WORD: APC, Lagos State Government and indeed, Aso Rock are hiding behind a finger if they think Nigerians are fooled for a minute about their unveiled strategy to shock, awe and overwhelm Peter Obi as we race towards 2027. 

But we shall close with the Igbo saying that, the tortoise shall always be held responsible should the mushroom grow an impaired ear. Meaning: APC is responsible for Peter Obi!

*Osuji was an editor at The Guardian and Thisday. Feedback: Steve.osuji@gmail.com