Peter Obi as Epitome of Moral Character

Awele Odor writes that Peter Obi is an embodiment of moral character ahead of the February, 2023 presidential poll

What will be Obi’s selling point?”. Mr. Emameh Gabriel in his piece titled “Peter Obi and the Viability of a Third Force” (ThisDay, June 28, 2022, p.16), asked this question that aids the examination of the chance of Mr. Peter Obi in the contest for presidency in 2023.

My categorical answer to this very thoughtful and important question is that his moral character is his selling point. I shall defend this answer in this reply to the question by comparing his moral character with the moral character of the PDP and APC candidates because it is strongly believed that one of them will win the election. I present first a necessary background.  

The fundamental and overriding basis for voting for any of the contestants for the position of President in 2023 should be leadership values. Unfortunately, we do not have any generally known, accepted, and institutionalised—covenanting—leadership values.

The only known value that the founding fathers of our nation and democracy after colonisation practiced, which was popularised by Mr. Ukpabi Asika, was Onye ubeya ru ya raa (Igbo). This means, contextually, “anyone elected or appointed into any political position should loot as much public finance as he could”. This value has endured as the institutionalised political value because all governments after the first government lacked moral character to correct the criminality.

The PDP and APC have practiced it to epidemic level. A person’s values are best assessed by studying the character of the person over several decades of his professional, social and interpersonal activities, and not by relying on the claims that he makes about his character or the character that he exhibits one year or several weeks to an election.

The value that best befits our next president—indeed all future presidents—is moral character and not selfishness, financial greed and insatiability, onye ubeya ru ya raa, lust for power, overlordship or autocracy, ethnicity, or religious bigotry.

The PDP and APC have practiced these for 23 years. Moral Character is Everything! Moral character was institutionalised, although not written, and evident in personal, family, social, and institutional activities when Nigeria was the country of our pride and the envy of all other nations. Moral character was everything then! The best expression of moral character was good family name. Particular evidence of moral character are iwa om’oluwabi (Yoruba), ezigbo omume (Igbo), and halin kirki (Hausa), to use the three major languages.

Members of families were the first to condemn, correct and, sometimes, punish a person for moral failing or corruption, to preserve their family name. But now, family members promote, cover up or defend moral failings or corruption. This is why our economics, democracy, governance, legislation, justice administration, international relations, marriages and children upbringing have been failing. It is why the naira which was N1: $2. is now N620:$1! 

After a year of researching the dynamics, functionality and value of values in the administration and management of three national systems several decades ago, I concluded that Western, mostly American, individualistic and materialistic values adopted mindlessly were the cause of our predicament, that our only way out of this and be on the right road to our true destiny was to revive the good old values and institutionalise them, that is, obligate Nigerians strictly to practice them; and that if this was not done, rather than get out of the predicament, the situation would get worse progressively and, at a finite future time, will become intractable.

We are in that situation now, but I was vilified and the view ridiculed when I made the recommendation. It is noted that the values of Americans, although inferior to our traditional values, are working for them and stopped the monster, Mr. Donald Trump, from destroying the Capitol, the blood of American democracy, because the US insitutionalised several values. Mr. Boris Johnson fell because he lacks moral character, one of Britain’s institutionalised leadership values, although unwritten.

Based on the authority of the research and vindication by its actualisation I recommend that all future elections—presidential, governorship, legislative and local government—and the appointment of all judges, ministers, CBN governor, SFG, advisers, etc in future should be based on institutionalised moral values, which moral character encompasses.

Done with my background, I begin my comparison of the moral character of Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) with that of the presidential candidates of the PDP and APC by noting that Alhaji Atiku chose Mr. Obi as his V.P during the contest for the presidency in 2019 because he and the PDP said they wanted “a man who has no record of financial corruption with the EFCC”.

This is in order that his arrest and prosecution will not mar his campaign and cause the PDP to lose at the contest. This action is the most significant, outstanding and important evidence of the moral character of Mr. Peter Obi.

No other evidence presented here can equal it in significance or importance. Because the members of LP who chose him, although a new comer to the party, are very distinguished, puts him on the same moral or virtue pedestal as Mr. George Washington, the first president of the USA. Another evidence that Mr. Obi surpasses both candidates in moral character assessment is that while he was the governor of Anambra State, he did not take advantage of the position to privatise any state economic or financial interest to himself while an ex-president said and wrote that this is what one of them did when he gave him authority to privatise some government economic interests. This is onye ubeya ru ya raa. The damning revelation has not been retracted. It is said that it is one of the reasons he is gigantically rich. Another comes from his corrupt use of office earlier. He said in 2019 that he will privatise NNPC and will encourage people who enriched themselves corruptly to invest them, not fight corruption. You know why, or don’t you? I have not seen any report that Mr. Obi acquired his wealth by looting state funds. This fact certifies him worthy of the Seat of President in the new Nigeria. An online medium accused him of keeping the existence of some companies “secret” and not that he established them with state money or money got from privatising state interest to his benefit.  Mr. Obi left the right to decide who governs Anambra State and who goes to the legislative arm, whether in Awka or in Abuja, to Anambrarians, and who becomes commissioner to the governor of the state. He is a true democrat. He will not interfere with legislative, judicial or EFCC rights.    

For the APC and PDP candidates, becoming the president of Nigeria is a life ambition and lust for power and, hence, must be achieved at any amount, all costs to the economy, currency value, security, territorial integrity, GDP, development, unity and peace of Nigeria; by means of a bunch of criminal mob or mindless pawns called “area boys” and nincompoops strategically denied education whose meaning and value of living is carrying plates about and begging for food, called almajira. Not so for Mr. Obi. The two groups of boys are assigned the duty of snatching ballot boxes and stuffing them with fake votes, threatening voters of opposite parties to make them not vote, and murdering anyone who dares to challenge them. They are paid for their services by their area bosses. Mr. Peter Obi values his moral character above any amount of money and the presidency. He will win because moral character is worth more than the sum of money both of them have. Moral character is everything! Another reason Mr. Obi will win is that he relies on prayers and God grants the prayers of a man of moral character. Some people have argued that “education is absolutely necessary for good governance” and that “President Buhari’s lack of education is why he has failed”.

President Buhari’s governance is utterly disappointing to me because I campaigned and voted for him. But we have had at least one president that met the idea and standard of education of these critics and he failed to give us good governance. Also, all our governors, a preponderant number of the men and women in the legislature, all our judges, ministers and advisers possess the educational certification that they require, western, but all of them have failed us. Therefore, and obviously, education is not everything. Moral character is everything! The education which does not make its recipient a moral character is indoctrination or mental enslavement. Mr. Bob Marley characterised it “brainwashed education to make us the fools”. The person who receives this education is full or vices, especially ego and selfishness. Hence, he gives help in order to usurp, covet, enrich himself, have power and exert control over the person or people he gives help to. True education makes its recipient a moral character. The person is full of virtues especially humility and altruism. As his altruism, he adds values to the lives of people with his position and money earned morally. His altruism includes nationalism. Hence, he adds values to national economy and finance with his position, not covet their values through privtisation or gigantic and odd money paid to him monthly.

Finally, on the mindless and stale argument of the PDP, APC and the people who support them that “Obi has no structures”. Their claim is mindless because his “structures” are found in all the states of the country, including Abuja. These are adult and young male and female people of moral character and honour, people who have suffered and still suffer poverty, insecurity, and murder of their parents, children or siblings. They are the people who were kidnapped and paid thousands of dollars or millions of naira as ransom for their release, relations of those murdered in spite of the payments, Christian and Muslims murdered in their sacred places of worship, and relations of all abducted girls, including Leah Sharibu.

The most indomitable of Mr. Obi’s “structures” are the people of Kaduna, Bornu, Zamfara, Benue and Niger States who have suffered incessant attacks, murder, destruction of their farms and displacements; university lecturers who have been treated so very much beneath their dignity by being reduced to beggars, borrowers and odd-job-doers in order to keep themselves and their families alive for five months; millions of students who have been wondering about, denied education and timely completion of their courses; millions of youths who have no jobs, and the people of the states where oil is got but lack necessities most.

It includes the indefatigable, indomitable, and commendable Third Force, the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, nationalistic mass information men and women, and truly independent researchers and public good promoters.

As my conclusion, because Mr. Peter Obi has demonstrated moral character or integrity in little thing, as governor of Anambra State, he should be given great thing, the Seat of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Our challenge is to give Nigeria a re-birth. This is absolutely necessary and imperative.

-Odor, a public good promoter wrote from Akoka, Lagos