Amidst the pre-election brouhaha, Naira and fuel scarcity, citizens of Africa’s most populous country are at the polls to cast their votes today for who will steer the wheels of the country in the next four years. The February 25 poll which has been described as a make-or-mar exercise for the ‘giant’ of Africa has had eighteen candidates declaring to voters their readiness to reform the country.
Among these candidates, three political juggernauts; the flag bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that of the main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the flag bearer of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Gregory Obi, appear to be more prominent in the contest.
Despite their prominence and appealing campaign promises, Obi from a seemingly ‘structureless’ Labour Party overwhelmingly won the hearts of many Nigerians especially the youths within the shortest space of time. Created in 2002, Labour Party’s membership and support increased drastically as the former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, joined the party shortly after he quit the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2022, in a bid to run for the 2023 Nigerian presidential election.
Since his emergence as the LP candidate, Obi has taken his campaign train to over 30 states in the country, sweeping massive support and approval as he moved.
The question in the mouths of many Nigerians remains; who/what is behind Obi’s audacious political popularity?
While it is worthy to note that of all the opinion polls conducted both online and offline saw the former governor of Anambra State emerging as the preferred choice of candidate to become Nigeria’s next president, it should also not be forgotten that Obi has exuded enormous strength that has got many Nigerians wondering how he has been able to achieve his numerous visits to almost all the states in Nigeria notwithstanding the insecurities ravaging the country.
Obi was reported severally to have visited Nigeria’s Northeast region which is mostly dreaded because of the high level of insecurity therein. He was also reported as the only presidential candidate who, instead of celebrating the 2022 Christmas on the Christmas day with his family, chose to visit the victims of insurgency in Benue IDPs camp with lots of gift items and money to sympathise with them.
One could also say that his pronounced stellar performances as the then Anambra state governor may have boosted his political career when he joined the 2023 presidential race. This is mostly because Anambra state won several awards as the best performing state; educationally, economically, security-wise etc under his leadership.
Obi as a shrewd businessman has an outstanding quality of prudence, integrity and uncanny financial savvy as a wealthy businessman with a reputation for being frugal. In a country where mismanagement of funds had been reported severally, Obi’s messages of prudence and accountability have continued to win the interests of the Nigerian masses in thousands.
His series of visits to past Nigerian leaders, eminent personalities, christian and Islamic clerics, as well as traditional rulers during his campaign train, speak volumes about his unrivaled penetrating power.
Obi’s firm uncompromising nature, natural sense of frugality, his love for equity, justice and fair play may have also contributed immensely to his unimaginable followership and ultimately birthed his motto: “We no dey give shishi”
According to him, “Some people have a structure that has brought us to this juncture where we produce 133 million people who are poor; where our primary health care has collapsed; where we have 20 million out-of-school children; where we have almost 40 per cent unemployment, with 60 percent youth unemployment. So, I urge all of us to remember that we need to build a new Nigeria”.
Though not much is known about Peter Obi’s wife, available reports revealed that Mrs Margaret Obi’s unflinching support and love for her husband may have contributed to Obi’s phenomenal success in every field of his endeavour. As if he saw his tomorrow from yesterday, Obi married himself, a partner who shares the same goals as himself, a wife whose forte is business and more, just like her husband.
As an entrepreneur and philanthropist, Mrs Obi knows her onion in doubling as a career wife and as “a perfect mother to our beloved children ” as affirmed by Peter Obi on his wife’s last birthday. In his beauteous birthday wish for his wife, Obi revealed that “each moment shared with you renews my strength, brightens my ideas and sharpens my vision,”
So, for a man as intellectually sagacious as Obi to affirm that his wife’s presence brightens his ideas and sharpens his vision, then Mrs Margaret obviously possesses some qualities that may be responsible for the Peter Obi we all know and admire today.
May God bless Nigeria as she redefines her political history today!