After months of failing to put out the fire of a democratic revolution ignited by the candidacy of Peter Obi, apologists of Nigeria’s ancien regime have found a new song. They say “Obidients” (as Obi’s supporters are called), are rude, aggressive, “violent” and intolerant of alternative views!
The classic examples often cited are the cases of Reno Omokri and Sam Omatseye, two men well known for servile loyalty to the PDP and APC respectively. Both men had at various times penned virulent attacks on Peter Obi, his political activities and the prospects of his candidacy. One said Obi would go nowhere since he was politically inconsequential and at best a provincial character. It was intended as a blow to the head. It was like saying to a child, “You will amount to nothing.”
The other said Obi’s followers are Biafran/IPOB separatists in disguise who are trying to actualize their agenda by other means. He belittled Obi’s ethnic stock and labelled all Igbos as separatists. It was a low blow clearly intended to drag Obi into an ethnic feud and so alienate other Nigerian ethnicities from his growing support base. For good measure, Omatseye labelled his treatise “Obi-tuary”, an apparent death wish to the man and/or whatever he stands for.
In the media backlash that followed each of these toxic writings, Peter Obi’s supporters (who constitute a formidable online army) were ruthless. They literally tore the clothes off the loins of both Omokri and Omatseye and let them walk naked in the market square. Just a few hours after their infamous critiques were published, both men were reduced to wimps. They said they and their families had not only been trolled but had been threatened with physical violence. They called on Peter Obi to restrain his followers! They let the world know that if any harm befell them Obi should be blamed.
I was mildly amused by the hypocrisy in this turn of events. Reno and Sam cut the image of two hangmen who are mortified by the prospect of their own mortality. How ironic! Hangmen are supposed to be macho men, so accustomed to death that they no longer fear to die. But these media assassins appear are of a different ilk.
A child throws a stone at a crowd. The crowd stones him back and he screams, “They are violent and want to kill me!” Is throwing a stone not an act of violence in the first instance? If you are averse to stones, why throw them at all? It was Reggae artiste Peter Tosh who once famously sang, “If you live in a glass house, don’t throw stones.” This ancient admonition seems totally lost on those “disobidients.”
And so a new strategy was born: If we can’t nail Peter Obi himself, let us discredit his followers and cause a rift between the candidate and his followers; between his movement and the undecided members of the public. Clearly, that’s what this new chant of “Obi’s followers are rude and intolerant” is all about.
Evidently, this is a feeble strategy that probably signals a weakening of the forces who once claimed that they “own Nigeria” and have political “structures” to win any election, no matter the choice of the electorate. These were the same people who just recently said Obi was a political nobody and his followers were just a bunch of internet rascals with no *Voter’s* cards.
Now, they are wondering aloud “why Obidients are rude and ill-tempered.” My answer is simple: Obidients are responding in kind to the impudence and arrogance of those currently in office as well as those who feel entitled to power – irrespective of merit.
It is insolent to disparage the legitimate and righteous efforts of fellow citizens who want to build a new and better country from the ruin that Nigeria currently represents. It is rude to say they are of no consequence and will come to naught. It is morally reprehensible to seek to retain in office a failed government and a political party presiding over a crumbled nation. It is criminal to say the outcome of an election has been decided months ahead of the polls – by the “structures” of a fumbling incumbent political machinery or its identical twin. How can a rude, noisy, boastful and drunken individual accuse his angry neighbor of bad manners? Obidients are not intolerant. They are righteously indignant. There is a difference.
A man walking to his farm fell into a well and was drowning. A stranger came to his rescue, threw him a rope and was trying to pull him to safety. Another man came and tried to cut the rope. How would the drowning man be expected to react? With patience, kindness and courtesy? C’mon! Obidients are humans, not angels. They have blood flowing in their veins. They are trying to save themselves (and their families) from drowning in wells dug by both APC and PDP. They will naturally brook no opposition.
The battle for the soul of Nigeria is now raging. We are witnessing an existential struggle between members of the ancien regime and their proxies on the one hand, and a new progressive movement driven by youth from all sections of the country on the other. Peter Obi merely personifies the latter. In him they see not just another attempt to grab power. They see character, compassion, competence and capacity – values long ignored or despised in Nigeria. Obi neither owns nor controls this narrative.
Those who can’t stand the heat should leave the kitchen.
Victor Anazonwu, a journalist and author, writes from Lagos.
