During the campaigns for the 2023 general election, one presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), clearly stood out among the leading contestants for the highest office in the land. The man, who carries his luggage and travels light, stood out among the motley crowd. The man, who lives an austere life and carries frugality as a badge of honour, stood out and was recognized by Nigerians and the world. Wherever he goes, people swarm to him like bees. He is loved by ordinary people and great Nigerians. He is a trader, but he utters philosophy and street wisdom that will astound professors. He speaks extempore and reels out accurate statistics with ease. Obi is too frugal to a fault. Some people hate him on account of his stinginess, “we no dey give shishi.” In all his public speeches, he did not look at a paper or a prompter.
Apart from his pedigree and monumental achievements in office as a two-time governor of Anambra State, Obi ran an issue-based campaign during the 2023 presidential electioneering. His campaign was also devoid of mud-slinging and character assassination associated with politics in this part of the world. He plays politics without bitterness. Even in the face of provocative and bile criticisms from his political opponents and their fanatical supporters, Obi took those criticisms in their strides.
Even when he replied to some of them like the one emanating from his brother and governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, over his performance in office, he was philosophical in his response when he urged Soludo to do better than he did while he governed the state. Obi said that as a trader, he did his best as governor and that Soludo, as a professor, should do more. However, the sarcasm in Obi’s response was not lost. Soludo had described Obi’s investments as the governor of the state as ‘worth close to nothing.’ In his long essay entitled: “History beckons and I will not be silent (Part 1)” Soludo also said that Obi had no chance of winning the 2023 presidential election. And because Obi had no structure as many critics alluded, Soludo said he can’t win beyond Anambra State and something like that. Soludo got more than he bargained for from Obi’s ardent supporters, the Obidients, that he jettisoned or forgot penning the Part 2 of his infamous treatise.Contrary to Soludo’s highly publicized postulation, Obi won the entire South East, South South, and recorded appreciable successes in the South West and the North Central regions. Peter Obi’s victory at the presidential poll might have rattled Soludo and the political establishment. Before the poll, Obi was highly underrated by Soludo and other Nigerian politicians. They said he had no structure and that he can’t win election without a structure.
They didn’t reckon with the fact that the masses are his structure. He was not given a chance. His supporters were dubbed social media activists who would not amount to any electoral value and consequence. His critics likened the Obidient movement to a group of four people tweeting in a room. They called them internet warriors, irritants and other unprintable names. At the end of the day, the party without structure performed so well in the election that even the governorship election was shifted by INEC probably because of the rude shock emanating from LP’s victory.
The Obidient hurricane retired so many politicians from politics in the South East and other parts of the country. It aborted the dreams of some governors from the South East to retire to the Senate. Now, the fear of the Obidients is the beginning of political wisdom, not only in the South East, South South but in other parts of the country. Some politicians have learnt from that epiphany, while others are still wallowing in piteous ignorance. The Obidient movement has revolutionized Nigerian politics and no politician will joke with them any more. Any politician who does not reckon with the Obidient movement is doing so at his own peril. To those who wrote the most provocative bile articles on Peter Obi and his presidential dream, Obi kept a deafening silence. Obi’s politics is devoid of malice and bile language. He easily hugs his opponents and rabid critics and even visits them and take pictures with them.
The Obidient movement is a new phenomenon in Nigerian politics. Its membership cuts across all ethnic groups, faith and regions. Its members believe in a Nigeria that will work for every one. They hate the unbridled corruption in Nigerian politics. The Obidient movement propelled the success of the Labour Party in the February 25 presidential and national assembly polls and the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls, despite the intimidation of its members and the rigging of the 2023 polls generally. From his antecedents as the governor of Anambra State and his emergence as the presidential candidate of the LP for the 2023 polls, Peter Obi has, through his words and deeds, redefined Nigerian politics. He has become a reference point in African politics as well. Many politicians, including his opponents, copy him. They emulate his lifestyle and imitate him. Obi’s campaign during the 2023 electioneering was anchored on the possibility of a new Nigeria. Nigerians are still longing for that reality.
While contesting the outcome of the highly flawed presidential poll at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT), Obi has not deviated from that dream of the birth of a new Nigeria under a focused, visionary and futuristic leadership. A leadership that will be goal and people-oriented. His claim that the 2023 presidential election process was highly marred has been collaborated by the recent EU Election Observation Mission’s final report on the 2023 polls. According to the EU, “the election exposed enduring systemic weaknesses and therefore signal a need for further and operational reforms to enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability.” Obviously, the EU report reflects the views of most Nigerians on the polls.
No doubt, Peter Obi represents the face of a new Nigeria in the waiting. His rhetoric resonates with the masses, especially the youths. His taking back our country mantra is in line with their hopes and aspirations. His promise to move the country from consumption to production elicits confidence. His promise to tackle insecurity and dialogue with all groups of agitators infuses hope. Above all, his promise to dismantle the old corrupt order and replace it with the new Nigerian order is a clincher.
As a quintessential and charismatic politician, Peter Obi is a man of the people and the rave of the moment. No meaningful discussion on Nigerian politics can be held without the mention of Peter Obi and his political philosophy. Before it has become fashionable to run a lean government, Peter Obi had done that in Anambra State. Throughout his eight years as the governor of Anambra State, Obi demonstrated the prudent management of state resources and saved over N75 billion in assets and cash for his successor.
Like other leading presidential candidates in the 2023 polls, Peter Obi believed that the corrupt and unsustainable Nigerian fuel subsidy regime should be removed but differed in methodology. Obi would have made his own removal of fuel subsidy less painful when he alluded to removal of a tooth with anaesthesia to lessen the pain. As the highly revered political game changer and the reference point in Nigerian politics and the man of the moment and the main issue in Nigerian politics adds another year to his age in a few days time, I join millions of his friends, supporters and admirers in Nigeria and the world over to wish him many more happy and fruitful years in the service of his fatherland.