Mr. Peter Gregory 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 #EndSARS 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 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 election 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.
From the foregoing, it is evident to us that the government of President Buhari has despotic tendencies. The APC-led government, which is referred to as a democratic government, is fast turning to a fascist regime.
And so far, the APC-led government 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 President Buhari to the throne of power 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 election case to the end and birth a new Nigeria. 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 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 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, 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 iredentists 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
Credit: Daily Sun