Gunmen chased him and former Edo State governor, John Odigie Oyegun to a corner, guns ablaze. The two, alongside other African Democratic Congress (ADC) members, were in the Heartbeat of the Nation to receive Olumide Akpata who was defecting from the Labour Party.
Obi’s political profile rose sharply when he became running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, presidential flag bearer of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 general elections. In 2023, he opted to run for the presidency under the Labour Party, having left the PDP.
A little-known Labour Party got a quantum leap in 2023 with the presence of Obi who ran a campaign diametrical to the ordinary. He reeled out to the nation his glowing records as governor of Anambra State which he earned through the courts and was once impeached for the wrong reasons. Obi was again reinstated by the courts.
Testimonies of his excellence in Anambra abound in various stories told of him. His successor, Willie Obiano, built an airport from scratch and got accolades from an admirer. Obiano was frank enough to admit that the seed funds for the airport were from the huge savings made by Obi.
In his campaign, Obi’s emphasis was on moving Nigeria from a nation of consumption to a nation of production. His proposed method bothered so much on frugality and judicious application of the nation’s funds. First, he wore a toga of purity and walked on the path of integrity. He preached character, competence and capacity and challenged any cynic to verify all he had said.
In the end, he failed short of becoming president but put numerous legislators and governors into office. Many still believe that he was robbed of the plum job through inexplicable glitches that the INEC claimed occurred during the election, as well as the malleable electoral laws that guided that election.
His consistency, steadfastness, transparency and persistence produced in him a benign iconoclast. Inadvertently, he found himself in leadership of a growing cluster of young revolutionaries clamouring for a Nigeria devoid of corruption, impunity, ethnic colouration and other vices that had developed like cancer in the nation. That group became known as Obidients. The Obidients, as it appears today, are influential to most political decisions their principal takes. They have a common destination reflected in the slogan, “a New Nigeria is Possible.”
In other words, he transcends the self-centred level of emiloka (it’s my turn) and deemphasizes the influence of money in the Nigerian politics with his no-shishi stance, meaning that he gives no dime in exchange for votes.
It’s not surprising that there was an attempt on his life. He has never been shy of flaunting such tall credentials in a milieu fraught with corruption and political brigandry. Those whose path to success is paved in the colour of violence, graft, impunity and total injustice would do everything to prevent a change in the opposite direction.
Gov. Monday Okpebholo of Edo State was quick to dismiss the attack as being engineered by an intra-party squabble. Such a response to a serious matter, coming from a supposedly chief security man of the state, is a reflection of how our democracy took a plunge down the abyss. It is indicative also of the governor’s level of understanding. One would have expected the state government to first call for a thorough investigation. The governor’s previous antagonism to Peter Obi when the politician was in the state for some philanthropic mission, however, speaks not in his favour.
Anyone who subscribes, covertly or overtly, to the political philosophy that says snatch power, grab power, and run with it, should not consider it out of place to have him enlisted into the book of suspects for that attack. According to reports, a group of thugs had used inflammatory phrases meant to intimidate the opposition, such phrases as “dem no de fear?”
Those in this category must learn that there is usually an expiry date for brigandry. Obi’s ouster as the conscience of the nation can only delay the movement for a New Nigeria as there are many Peter Obis on queue. They would certainly continue from where he stopped, should anything untoward happen to him.
For years the nation had searched fruitlessly for a figure like Peter Obi who could prove that the Nigerian politician thinks about the good of the country. History has shown that the blood of reformers usually waters the growth of positivism in many political environments.
Imagine a Nigeria without Obi. A Nigeria that kills someone like Peter Obi could be cutting the image of a nation that chooses Barrabas over Christ. However, on a Candid Note, Nigeria does not need martyrs anymore. It needs its reformers alive to shape the nation right and have it running smoothly.
Dr. Odu can be reached through [email protected] or SMS 07016722929