Peter Obi, Labour Party Presidential candidate
The first point of contact I had with His Excellency, Peter Obi, was his governorship campaign slogan lavishly advertised on his billboard. I covered the governorship election in Anambra in 2003 and Obi caught my fancy. Setting the ball rolling, Obi, convinced that Anambra State, in spite all what had befallen her the in ill fated administration of Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju, was very well positioned to fly to Olympic stardom, sensationally asked: Is Anambra cursed or are we the cause?
Certainly, I was not only entrapped by the Obi matrix, I was also caught by its well structured philosophical bend. After eight years of topsy tenure, Obi convincingly proved that Anambra State as entity was a land blessed with gold and golden deposits. He correctly established that the cause of the state’s ills were the successive administrators who sat on the enclave like task masters without any conscience.
Leaving office, Obi, unlike other exiting governors, never aspired to go to the senate or emerge an appointee of the government in any capacity. He simply returned to his private business. He started attending local, national and international conferences where he figuratively and literally narrated his experience in government.
As events have turned to relate, the masses listened to Obi with rapt attention. His messages, which came in clear and simple prose, were adequately understood and registered in the consciousness of the masses. Obi is not an orator in the real application of it. But anywhere he delivers any lecture, the masses stay glued to their feet and listen with dignified interest. Now, Obi is a political sensation. Some say he is now a Movement as well as a Revolution.
The anthem, OBIdient is allover the place. By the benefit of hindsight, I want to tell you authoritatively that Obi is now what the late Igbo icon, Odumegwu Ojukwu was in 1967. Anybody who saw differently from the General of the People’s Army was described a saboteur. Despite the resilience, ingenuity and doggedness of Ndigbo, the hard fighting Biafra still, most painfully, lost the war. It was devastating.
Just as it was in Biafra when the catchword was “Ojukwu nye anyi egbe” (Ojukwu give us gun). Today, the refrain is: OBIdent!!! Then in Biafra, all those who disagreed with Ojukwu regretted their action – mind you, Ojukwu, Ndigbo and whatever Biafra represented, were deeply wronged, abused and never wanted in Nigeria! Ojukwu got it right at Aburu but Gowon reneged. Again, today, anybody who tells the Obi Movement to tarry awhile is tagged Igbo enemy.
Probably, it must be stated here that the present political colouration in the country is a dramatic playback of the 1979/83 situation. If political correctness is anything to go by, Zik’s NPP is replicated in Obi, an Igbo. Awo’s UPN is today represented in Tinubu’s APC, Yoruba. Atiku’s PDP so much appear to be the Shagari’s NPN. Both were Fulanis. Wazirri Ibrahim’s GNPP and Aminu Kano’s PRP have an inclination Kwakwanso ‘s NNPP. It therefore goes to say that the 2023 presidential elections will be regionally cast. If this happens, as it will be most likely happen, of course, like that of 1979/83 general elections, PDP’s Atiku is home and dry.
I must confess that what Obi did in Anambra, and going by how he has been carrying himself ever since he left power, Obi has what it takes to drive Nigeria out her present deplorable condition. He is disciplined, composed and balanced in all ways. Yet, politics is not measured by the above excellent frames.
Suddenly, Ndigbo have forgot the deep rooted animosity against them by their immediate neighbours: the South – South. Ndigbo no longer remember the derogatory phrase: Omo Igbo given to them by the Yoruba in the South West. Ndigbo no longer Inyamiri as addressed to them by northern elements. It is laughable!!!
In a way, like other Igbo, Obi will get my vote. However, the lot will be picked by Atiku. In other words, I am OBIdently AtiKUlated because BAT has committed a faux pas with the APC Muslim – Muslim ticket.
