In Obi/ Datti the dream of a new Nigeria has a chance to take off, writes Pat Onukwuli
It is two days to Saturday, February 25, 2023, when the fate of Nigerians will be decided at the polls. What future the country will have depends on what decision the citizens are willing to make on the day. The fact of the presidential election coming hard on the heels of liquidity crunch, fuel scarcity and general economic down turn suggests possible deviation from established pattern of voting money, tribe, religion or party.
For the first time Nigerians, united in adversity and beyond the general mood of gloom and doom, seem determined to take back their country.
The presidential ambition of Mr. Peter Obi marked neither by highfalutin jargon of campaign promises nor given expression in the “parties with structures” emits a flicker of hope in the minds of the people. Nigerians, especially the youths whose future has been mortgaged through indiscreet actions and policies of the government are decided to claw it back, using the less fancied Labour Party platform.
For these people Obi approximates the hope of a new Nigeria that will restore her future and return her pride. Perhaps for the first time in the history of presidential campaigns in Nigeria, youths of all hues of political opinion and from all walks of life are inflamed to a passionate struggle to pull down the dead hand of ethnicity and partisanship and enthrone a new order. With the Nigeria ship of state already sailing on troubled water they realize the importance of entrusting their lives in the hands a licensed mariner imbued with mental, physical and spiritual capacity to steer her ashore. Obi has the cognitive ability, the physical prowess, and reasonable spiritual strength to battle the ogre of maladministration and steady the rudderless ship. He did in Anambra, pulling it from educationally backward, insecurity-prone, healthcare-care challenged and a fractious state to one of the best in Nigeria. His record of performance in every aspect of economic development and the bequest of the humongous sum of N75billion for his predecessor which ensured the state was solvent as at the time of leaving will take some beating.
Pitted against his fellow contestants, (some of whom their claim of performance in office is still subject of controversy, and whose sense of equity as well as entitlement is at once doubtful and provocative), Obi pales them in comparison. One of the things Obi is often accused of and which hardly defines his person is stinginess. One of the contestants once accused him of stinginess, hoping to malign his reputation and possibly cast him in bad light before Nigerians. Unfortunately for him, Obi almost in the words of Ingvar Kamprad in his quote: I’m stingy and I’m proud of the reputation”, fired back at him saying, “Nigeria needs a stingy leader at the moment. And he is neither wrong nor are Nigerians worried about the flippant remark.
Without intent on sugarcoating the financial mess the country is in, any of the contestants without Obi’s prudence in resource management will further plunge Nigeria into chaos. With the humungous debt overhang, Nigeria has no strength sustaining even for a day a government that is not financially prudent. A care free leader emerging after the wasted years will give hostage to the fortunes of Nigerians yet unborn. Nigeria needs Obi’s prudence that abhors waste and takes pride in conserving the common wealth for the common good. As stated above he did in Anambra, leaving that state better than he met it. What Obi’s detractors cannot take away from him is that he is painstaking, diligent and does not pass the buck. He takes responsibility and will ensure that Nigeria’s resources are not put to waste. They will be used for what they are meant for.
And it does not appear that many Nigerians, especially the youths are thinking differently. Possibly with their future mindlessly abused by plundering leaders, they have taken the Obi presidential project as their own. Next to national football engagement in wide acceptance is the Obi presidential campaign project. This is currently expressed in the Obidient Movement – a phenomenal movement of the youths, the middle aged and the elderly, seeking to change the future of Nigeria through Obi/Datti presidency.
One thing is not in doubt about what the new generation of Nigerians wants. They have come to reject ethnic and religious politics. The Obidient movement is a self-sponsored movement that requires neither Obi’s money nor his influence to function. It is in deadly earnest to buck the trend of money politics and deliver the choice of candidate they believe will retrieve Nigeria from active decline.
Obi has no reason to falter while in office as he appreciates that the mandate is the people’s. He does not hesitate to reaffirm that his presidency is the people’s and that he is just a mere tool through which the project will pull through. What will mark out Obi’s presidency is that it will be void of frivolities of many a politician. He has discipline and is hardly distracted by the fugitive effects of power which often lead many leaders astray. Obi understands the problems confronting the country and he seems most prepared to face them headlong on taking office.
The odds favour him to win the polls without manipulations. However, it will spell some trouble to try anything smart with the results as Nigerians are in no mood to entertain subversion. Obi/ Datti presidency is a possibility with the popularity the Labour candidates enjoy across party and sectional divides. Nigeria has long sought for a leader that is prudent and self denying. In Obi/ Datti the dream of a new Nigeria has a chance to take off.
Onukwuli, PhD,
writes from Bolton, United Kingdom
