The irony of life has no boundary and truth is often stranger than fiction. But if there is any one man Tinubu should thank for making him the president, that man is Peter Obi. And if there is any group that Tinubu should thank for making him the president, that group is the Obidents. Shocking, isn’t it? But that is true.
Anybody who expected that in Nigeria Peter Obi, an Igbo man, without forming or leading any party, would declare, campaign and win the Presidential election all in less than one year, that person is joking. I knew from day one that even if Peter Obi won, he would not be declared the President. It was obvious. So, Peter Obi’s historic role in the 2023 presidential elections was to achieve the disruption of the existing balance of strength between the two main parties – PDP and APC. And that was exactly what he achieved.
The problem is that many of the people do not pay close attention to events. Otherwise, you would remember, around November of last year, the American Republican Institute sent a study delegation to Nigeria. At the end of their tour they issued a statement in which they expressed the position that the emergence of a strong third party (Peter Obi’s LP) was likely to result in a runoff election between APC and PDP. In other words, the delegates of that Institute saw Peter Obi’s LP as a powerful disruptor.
Anyway, let’s not pursue a long argument over this. But when the history book is finally written, Tinubu should thank Peter Obi and the Obidents for making him the President. I am sure the Obidents will be mad to realize that all they could achieve in the circumstance was to make the man they called a drug dealer the President of Nigeria.
By the way, for your information, Atiku was willing to concede the PDP ticket to an Igbo man, which would have been Obi. But Governor Wike insisted that the concession must be to the the South (South-South and South-East) because Wike wanted to run for the presidency against Peter Obi at the PDP primaries. Atiku and others (including Peter Obi) felt that if Obi and Wike faced each other at the PDP primaries, Wike would outspend Peter Obi and clinch the PDP ticket. And many PDP stalwarts did not want Wike. The end result was that Peter Obi and Wike separately worked to defeat PDP (Peter Obi worked against PDP indirectly and unintentionally, while Wike was intentional and direct). After thanking Peter Obi, Tinubu should also thank Wike. They both defeated Atiku and enthroned Tinubu.
Emeka Ugwuonye
