You may recall that the week that the former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi suddenly dumped the Peoples' Democratic Party for the hitherto unheralded Labour Party and became LP's presidential candidate, I wrote in Saturday Breakfast that Obi's action may turn out to be Nigeria's greatest political masterstroke of a century.
There were however many in the professional political industry who jeered and laughed at me. They were emphatic that Peter Obi will not get anywhere. According to them, without the backing of the present corruption infected 'structures' provided by the PDP and the APC, it is impossible for anyone to get near Aso Rock.
That was a few months ago. How times have changed! Today, no one talks about the major presidential candidates in Nigeria without mentioning Peter Obi. Obi has in a few months become the super-duper-star of Nigerian politics. He is the big conversation in the Nigerian political environment. The 'Obidient' movement is growing like the Amoeba. It is asymmetric and amorphous and not like anything known in Nigerian politics. Millions of young Nigerians who have been traumatized, distressed, devastated and disillusioned by their country have seen in Obi an opportunity to be hopeful again. I make bold to write that any relative peace you may find in Nigeria today is because of Peter Obi. He brings hope to otherwise hopeless Nigerians.
Our traditional politicians who were sleeping with the confidence that their 'structures' will deliver victory for them and maintain the status quo, have woken up. They sense that something unusual is going on which must be confronted and that they ignore the Peter Obi revolution at their peril. Clearly, the word has gone out: "We either shoot down this Peter Obi guy or he will ruin our huge political investments"
About four months ago, I wrote in this column that attack dogs will be unleashed to shoot down the Peter Obi Revolution and a massive and well-funded propaganda effort will be part of the attack.
I foretold the nature of the attack lines as follows:
One- Peter Obi will be promoted as an ethnic candidate with an ethnic agenda and stopped from being established as a national phenomenon.
Two - The credibility of Peter Obi will be heavily challenged. He must be publicized as a habitual liar with a movement based on lies.
Three - The story of Obi's achievements as Governor of Anambra State will be re-told to try to establish that he was a failure in government.
Four - The frugality for which Obi is known and which is one of his major selling points will be reinterpreted as incurable stinginess.
Five - There will be continuous repetition that Peter Obi has no 'structure' and that the election cannot be won on social media, with the aim of destroying the confidence of his supporters.
I am not disappointed. All the attack lines listed above have been loaded and fired repeatedly but the "four persons tweeting from one room" have become millions at rallies and street movements across the country. It has therefore become necessary to fire some ballistic missiles at Peter Obi and blow him up.
I write about 1000 words every week in Saturday Breakfast and I know what it takes out of me. I cannot imagine that a very busy state governor found the time to write more than 4000 words to demolish his brother and that was meant to be only Part 1! A lot of people have said that His Excellency, Governor Chukwuma Soludo may be brilliant but not wise. I do not quite agree. Soludo was on a mission, a mission to annihilate Peter Obi's political relevance. He failed miserably. Am I a prophet in saying that we may never see the promised Part 2 of Soludo's ballistic missiles?
In the last couple of days, the news was everywhere that Peter Obi's Campaign Director, Doyin Okupe had been expelled from the Labour Party for non-payment of dues in Ogun State and that he should be replaced by someone from the north! The great people of Ogun State are demanding that their own brother should be sacked and replaced by someone from the north. Chai!!! How long has Okupe been in the Labour Party? When was the demand for the 'dues' made? When was Okupe tried and the judgment delivered? Hilarious!
Apart from the many foot soldiers and leaders of the labour and mass movements in Nigeria, when the full story of the Obidient Revolution is written, two names must have a pride of place – Doyin Okupe and Pat Utomi. They saw what our traditional political bandits did not see. They have masterfully built a behemoth from almost nothing. The attack on Doyin Okupe is aimed at cutting off the oxygen to the Peter Obi movement. It is desperation at its worst. Very soon, they will go after Pat Utomi.
Do not be surprised to read tomorrow that one traditional chief in his village in Anambra State has decreed that Peter Obi can no longer run for the presidency. The reason? He has been expelled from his town union as it was found out that he failed to pay a particular burial levy 20 years ago! Do not be surprised to hear that one magistrate in one remote village has issued an Order against him. That is how ridiculous and desperate the Nigerian traditional political operators are.
The problem however is that the Peter Obi structure is asymmetric and amorphous and not like anything known in Nigerian politics. Its structure is structureless. It is therefore difficult to hit.
The young people of Nigeria, the same age group that drove the
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