2023 Polls and the ‘Big Statement’ Obi Made
By Muktar Ya’u Madobi
The recently-concluded presidential election across the country was a watershed. It was a poll full of shocks, disbelief and utter surprises. It was an election that proved some political bookmakers wrong.
But the instant revelation of the contest was Mr. Peter Obi. Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party is one of the renowned contemporary Nigerian public figures.
He is indeed an accomplished politician, having served as Anambra State Governor between 2006 and 2014. He was, not too long ago, the running mate to Alh. Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections.
But he was never given a chance in the 2023 presidency race. Many social commentators and public affairs analysts even derided his presidential ambition. Obi’s political dream, in some quarters, was perceived as a joke taken too far.
Now, let me digress. Ever since the beginning of the fourth republic, the bid for presidential election has been a two-horse race between two major and powerful political parties irrespective of others [parties] that participated but lack the clutch to challenge the two other parties.
Recall that in the 1999 presidential election, General Olusegun Obasanjo of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, defeated the candidate of the joint Alliance for Democracy-All People’s Party, AD-APP, Chief Olu Falae.
This trend keeps on reflecting up to 2015 and 2019 general elections when President Muhammadu Buhari of All Progressive Congress, APC, has beaten the major opposition twice that is PDP to win the presidential elections.
However, everybody will believe this writer’s assertion that this jinx was shattered and broken into pieces in the most keenly contested 2023 presidential election where vigour, doggedness and hope were injected into the process with a view to turn things around.
Without an iota of doubt, Nigerians have no one to thank for, except the dogged fighter and symbol of hopes for youth, for his unwavering spirits- the two times Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi.
Obi joined the 2023 presidential race on the platform of Labour Party, LP, when a lot of people are mocking him and attributing his ambition to a mere myopic thinking.
Recall that, Obi was the running mate to PDP Presidential candidate in 2019 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Wazirin Adamawa. However, prior to the 2023 PDP presidential primary election, Obi voiced his ambition to become the flag bearer of the party.
Notwithstanding, as a result of the party’s internal crisis mostly around micro-zoning the presidential candidature to the southern part of the country, Obi resigned his PDP membership and chose to fly his trade with the Labour Party, who gave him a warm reception.
Read Also:
As it presently stands, the election has been won and lost among contenders across the political parties. For the Presidential seat, it was contested among 18 aspirants with the major ones being Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of APC, Atiku Abubakar of PDP, Peter Obi of LP and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of New Nigerian People Party, NNPP.
Peter Obi came a distant third behind the candidates of APC and PDP who emerged first and second respectively. The election was held on Saturday, 25th of February, 2023.
According to the result officially announced by INEC, Peter Obi polled 6,101,533 votes which is about 28.56% of the total vote casted across the nation.
Prior to the elections, a lot of pundits undermined Obi’s caliber and political clutch to contest the presidency, saying that he cannot even win more than two states from his geopolitical zone, note to even talk of other regions in the country.
Nonetheless, Obi shamed the devil and all his scoffers by winning a total of 12 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Nigeria’s most popular state- the Lagos.
Other states won by Obi are Delta, Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Plateau, Nasarawa, Edo, Ebonyi and Cross River respectively.
Tinubu may have won the poll but there is no gainsaying that President-elect is fated to live henceforth in fear of the “little boy” from Anambra who exposed his vulnerability in Lagos for the first time since the return to democracy. He beat the famous Jagaban in Lagos, his hitherto fortress.
That’s not all. The man who prides himself as the landlord of the FCT, Senator Philip Aduda, lost his tenancy of the Senate to Mrs Ireti Kingibe of the LP. Mrs Kingibe, a serial contestant of the FCT seat won only because Obi made it easier for voters to vote for anyone on the ballot who is bearing Labour Party.
In the South-East, the quest of Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu to retire to the Senate after two terms in their respective Government Houses hit an impregnable wall as LP candidates won convincingly. The same for Abia State where the LP candidates had a field day by riding on the Obi fame.
Also, in the South-South, Governor Ben Ayade’s impeccable English was not enough to win him a seat in the Senate. He lost to the Obi factor as were the likes of Tanko Al-Makura and Ndudi Elumelu amongst others.
He may have lost the election but only a political greenhorn will write off Obi going forward. What started as a joke a few months ago has morphed into a national movement, labeled by many as the third force expected to produce a new government in the next few years.
Obi’s unwavering spirit is a clear indication that there is still hope for emerging youth in Nigeria to turn things around and elect credible leaders who can steer the affairs of the country and take it to the much anticipated El Dorado.
Believe me, Obi’s name will continue to ring a bell in Nigeria’s political arena as a man who almost shook the table. Who knows what will happen come 2027? Only time will tell.
