In one of Peter Obi’s recent tweets, he expressed hope that a new Nigeria can be rebirthed when her citizens are free to criticize their leaders and openly hold them accountable for their actions.
In the tweet, which came as a result of the public criticism he received from Aisha Yesufu and Firstladyship, he said he openly welcomed the constructive criticisms, saying that it makes leadership better, adaptive and responsive.
For a man whose followers and supporters are vile, intolerant of oppositions, vindictive and see him as a messiah, his tweet is evocative of a number of things.
Obi is not a messiah
First, it evinces that Obi disapproves herd mentality. He is open to suggestions and improvements and he sees himself not as a messiah, but someone who has what it takes to challenge or change the status quo.
Although Peter Obi may be covertly enjoying his superstardom and furtively nursing his political ego, his tweet suggests that he does not approve his followers’ painting him as a messiah and never portrays himself as such.
Even though his actions and words might have predisposed him as that messiah he never wanted to be in the first place.
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However, we cannot blame his followers for their vileness and belligerent disposition, especially towards the other parties’ followers.
In a country where millions of people have been restricted to choose the lesser evil since 1999, for the past twenty-two years, a candidate that heralds a glimmer of hope and credibility must be well defended at all costs, revered or even decorated with the messiahship regalia.
One can only remind Obi’s supporters that the saying better the devil you know than the devil you don’t still speaks volumes.
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Obi’s followers’ herd mentality
As respectful as one might be towards Obi’s followers, since their concerns are valid, herd mentality is dangerous in electioneering campaign. It clouds one’s sense of reasoning and creates a bogus hope.
In an article by Meridia Interactive Solutions, it examines the power of a herd. For instance, “one imagines that there might be voices within the minds of many individuals in the herd saying, perhaps this isn’t a good idea…. Yet the herd stampedes forward, sometimes with catastrophic results.”
In 2015, herd mentality pushed us to vote a man like Buhari into power, when everyone was clamouring for Change. We bought the change and it changed us. In 2019, Next Level came upon us, it is evident that after things had changed, Buhari promptly took us to the next level after we re-elected him.
The sky is large enough for all birds to fly. No matter the vileness and belligerent disposition towards other people’s choices, a person’s engrained political belief would not shift. Clamping down on other’s political choice can only arouse more bitterness in Obi’s supporters.
Besides, the attempt to stifle healthy political debates and conversations on social media by the Obidients can only lead to history repeating itself, as Nigerians’ electing Buhari in 2015 and 2019 then.
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Obi’s presidential ambition
After all, Peter Obi was once part of these big cabals, even wined and dined them. He once contested as Atiku’s vice in the 2019 presidential election. In 2022, he was going to run under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, before he pulled out to run under the Labour Party platform instead.
His flight to LP, even though he attributed it to corruption in the PDP, betrays his strong ambition to run and become president–even when he is not unaware that his chances are highly slim.
Obi’s ambition is not much different from Tinubu’s; a man who solidly believes it is his turn to become the president of Africa’s most populous country.
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For everyone’s information, especially Obi’s supporters, it is apposite to say that no one has the revelation yet to determine whose ambition is healthy or insidious, or whose ambition carries a glimmer of hope or spells imminent doom for the country.
It is only decent of us as humans to respect people’s ambitions, especially when we ourselves can become more ambitious in the face of circumstances and past or prevailing realities.
Going forward, Obi’s supporters should give room for people to think for themselves.
Resorting to false narratives and misinformation, labelling other presidential candidates in bad light and clamping down on other people’s choices only breed malice, shrink and reduce us to choosing bad leaders.
We must discard our biases and put on a full armour of reasoning. Leaders are elected on the grounds of competence, past political experiences, meritorious service, and their selfless drive to contribute to the growth and development of the country.
