Since the recent Arise TV Presidential Town Hall Debate at which two of the leading candidates failed to show up and one sent a proxy, a furore has broken out among supporters of the other frontline candidate, Mr. Peter Obi of the Labor Party.
Some say Obi should stop attending any further presidential debates from which other leading candidates choose to stay away or send spokespersons. Others say Obi should add vitriol to his tool kit and cease the opportunity of his cowering opponents to nail them for good and demonstrate his “firmness” as a leader. Yet others say Obi should stop acknowledging his PDP rival Atiku Abubakar as his former “boss” (and other older candidates in the race as his “elder brothers”). In this way, they say, he will distance himself from them and demonstrate that he is his own boss.
I must say that while I perfectly understand those sentiments, I do not share some of them.
That Peter Obi was once VP candidate under Atiku Abubakar in the PDP is a historical fact which no one can deny. That he is significantly younger than any of the other frontrunners is also incontrovertible. Does that make him inferior or subservient to any of them in the race to lead Nigeria today? Certainly not. If anything, it makes him better. His essence, style and value proposition is radically different from all others. He has given Nigerians one heck of a choice to make in 2023.
Each man has traveled a different path to arrive at where he is at the moment. If elected president, each man with think and act differently. Everyone knows that.
To refuse to acknowledge your elders or your former bosses and superiors is not a sign of strength. It is a sign of weakness – moral weakness. It confers no status or advantages. It shows poor upbringing and bad manners. Thank God, Mr. Peter Obi is not such a fellow.
Obi and the Obidients do not need to throw stones at the candidacies of Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu to succeed. There are enough internal contradictions between those two gentlemen and their political parties to do them in. Both camps are unraveling as we speak. Atikus’s camp has just dug up old documents (dating back to the 1990s) linking Tinubu to drug-related investigations in the US which led to a forfeiture. Atiku himself is on record to have been seriously indicted by his own former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, as a man who cannot be trusted. Besides, his campaign cannot seem to get off the ground because five or six state governors from the same party have withdrawn their support on grounds of unresolved disputes.
Thus, “the unifyer” cannot seem to unify his household and Tinubu is in tatters. Most Nigerians are aware of this and many other “scandals” surrounding Atiku and Tinubu. Not to mention their age handicaps or inability to grasp and articulate a new way forward for a country they both evidently helped to bring to ruin.
Obi will gain nothing by getting in the mud with his badly muddied opponents. A seasoned warrior does not waste his ammo on fallen enemies He saves them for other battles ahead.
Obidients will do well to stick with the original game plan: Show the light by demonstrating that there is a new and better way of doing things for the good of ALL Nigerians. This is consistent with the Obi brand persona. They must not play the opponents’ game.
Most “undecided” Nigerians today are secret admirers of Peter Obi and the ideas and values he espouses. They are only cynical because in the past their optimism has been dashed by crooked leaders and untidy outcomes. Like the Buhari Blunder. So, skepticism is part of their defence mechanism. Most will surely come round, but not all.
It should be no surprise that there are still Nigerians who are ready to bet on the old order or are willing to actively sabotage the emergence of a new order. It is in the nature of things. After all, the devil and his supporters (the demons) emerged from heaven. The real surprise would be if Obidients who fancy themselves as a force for good get distracted or discouraged by the thrashings of the drowning opposition.
Dino Melaye, Reno Omokri, Festus Keyamo, Femi Fani-Kayode, Daniel Bwala and the likes are well known court jesters. They are soldiers of fortune only interested in filling their own bellies. They are choristers for rent who sing for a fee. There is no value, dignity or worth attached to their words or names. Most Nigerians know this.
Evil cannot be overcome by doing more evil. Evil is overcome only through righteousness. Likewise, Peter Obi and the Obidients cannot win by playing dirty politics and dodging debates. They must stick with the right principles and methods, no matter the temptation. Obi must attend every top level invitation he can reasonably handle, while carefully selecting spokespersons to amplify his message and ease the pressure as the campaigns gather momentum.
It is to his credit that he has demonstrated physical, emotional, mental and spiritual fitness far ahead of every other candidate in the field today. Nigerians are no fools. They know why some of the others are evasive. They have nothing to offer and are shy to display their emptiness. All that is required now is for Obidients to maintain a sensible tempo, allow their opponents to stumble and fumble as usual, and finish with a final flourish in February.
Peter Obi has done his part by boldly stepping forward to lead the cause of a new Nigeria. Labor Party and other key stakeholders must do our part and stay the course until victory is won. That is the firmness Obidients need to take back their country.
