PETER OBI: BETWEEN COALITION AND COLLISION

The old order will not meekly yield its grip on power. So, it’s understandable that as old order kingpins glimpse in sharp relief the brightness of a star ascendant, they cannot but plot its pulldown via chicanery well evolved over aeons, the instrument with which they have masterfully held to the reins these many years.
The Labour Movement, unfortunately, is not as organic as some would have wanted or imagine. It was built on the suspect ground of the Labour Party which was/is an agglomeration of individuals not known for being anything different from members of other political parties. They were regular partymen decked in the toga of Labour, which, while a fitting political cognomen, does not quite capture in spirit, the imagination it evinces as a body.

And then, along came a Peter Obi who, in a short few months, changed the face and feel of the party. Supporters flocked to Labour not for the party per se, but for the individual who had captured the imagination of millions with well-reasoned high-octane oratory which resonated length and breadth despite the laboured limitations of his voice.

He articulated well and without the customary hifalutin complexity, the expectation, the aspirations of the common man. He breezed and blurred through ethnic, religious, gender and other divides as his language was not dissimilar to those whose leadership he sought. Millions of Nigerians believe he won the election outright and but for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in concert with deeply dug in meet-at-midnight interests, would have been declared president.

Now, how his term would have gone, had he gotten the declaration, is anybody’s guess. But it may not have fared different than his first term in Anambra State where he was impeached and where but for the magnanimity of a then largely unfettered (or not as fettered) judiciary, might have put paid to his political ambitions.

He had had to run, his tail between his legs, so to speak, after noticing the sleight of hand being dealt him in the PDP, to the embrace of Labour, which with its populist posturing, quickly saw the potential of a Peter Obi candidacy to fire up a waning reckoning with its voter base.  

It was a short window, (about nine months), but Candidate Obi made the most of it. The jaded, the discouraged, the disinclined, the dispirited found space under the ‘Papa, Mama, Pickin’ banner. Young Nigerians especially were far from quiet in their adulation and insistence on Obi as their candidate for the times.
Did he win or didn’t he win? Again, we ask, and again, millions are certain he did. It gave a sizeable measure of fillip to the frenzied expectations for an Obi Presidency when despite the evident electoral malpractices, including harassment of Labour Party supporters and the crude disenfranchisement of whole blocs of Labour Party supporters especially from Obi’s ethnic Igbo base, Obi still won Lagos State handily.

That result was game on as the reactionaries put into action measures to ensure that subsequent votes for Obi didn’t quite count. BVAS machines which had done well in the other elections suddenly malfunctioned in many places ensuring that results from the machines did not count on the day of the presidential elections. The media reported no joy in the land when INEC made its announcement of the election ‘winner’ in the middle of the night. That night, and these many days and nights thereafter, there have been no dances in the streets.

So, Peter Obi lost. But did he? In the affairs of a nation, how far does one election carry? Quite far. As Adolf Hitler and Muhammad Buhari made evident to doubters. The setback both individuals and a motley others caused their nations and humanity is incalculable. And this is precisely why Peter Obi, if he is no pretender, must stay dug in the trenches. He must find it in himself to give assurance to his army of supporters who swear by him.

The Mega Party or Opposition Coalition kite is another subterfuge the wily old order has devised as it explores its options for holding on to power. A good number of individuals high up in the Labour Party hierarchy are actually old order folks. They serve in every government and are chummy by night with those they abuse in the day. They must stay relevant somehow, don’t they? But having not the gravitas to shift the entrenched principalities in the two parties, they have pitched their tent with Labour from where they horse-trade as moles within.

Peter Obi, except he is no different from the old order politicians, would do well to dissociate himself from the Mega Party or Opposition Coalition subterfuge and stay solo. If he could attract the support he did with the little time he had, it is clear he would get more if he stays the course rather than joining a merger of disparate ideologies that make no sense to a voting public keenly aware of the power game at play.

I am not by any means attempting to diminish the pressure Peter Obi is under. But like the Good Book says, he who puts his hand on the plough and looks back is not fit for the Kingdom. The best crafted advertising and PR will not restore lost goodwill. Which is what’s bound to happen should Obi find himself playing second fiddle when he ought to be dictating play.

Onuwa Lucky Joseph, CEO of Earl Glow Communications, an Abuja-based Integrated Marketing Communications and CSR Consultancy