Several arguments, written and verbal have been made about why Peter Obi`s presidential ambition may be dead on arrival, but none of this arguments is worth the papers it is written on or the energy expended on the vocal cord expounding them. Make no mistake, I have no apology for sounding this way.
Since 1999, Nigerians, and particularly the Nigerian electorates have relinquished so much power and influence to the political class – those who call themselves politicians, as if that were a profession.
The docility of the Nigerian populace has been exploited by these charlatans who now pride themselves as our “leaders”, or perhaps rulers, which is a term that should better suit the relationship the common man shares with the political class in Nigeria.
The excesses of our politicians have only been as successful as we have allowed them in the course of our tameness, ignorance and outright chase for smoke rather than the fire. We have long ignored the substance in pursuit of momentary personal benefits – extreme selfishness.
Of those who argue to support the impossibility of Peter Obi`s victory at the presidential election, no single person among them have doubted his credibility, likeability as a candidate and suitability to occupy the office of the president of Nigeria – PON.
Each and every one I have heard or read about, doubting the viability of Peter Obi`s candidature have all conceded that the former Anambra State governor is the best man for the job.
What then is the reason for this little fate in his success at the pool? They have all hinged their doubt on his choice of Labour Party to compete in the election – men of little fate indeed.
This is no doubt the mentally that have held us down since 1999. The consequence of which is, leaving only but the worst of us to lead the rest of us in the country of over 200 million gifted and endowed individuals.
The fact that more established parties like the People`s Democratic Party (PDP) or All Progressive Congress (APC) may have offered Peter Obi a more ready structure is not in doubt.
I will be completely a political neophyte to argue otherwise, but am not. Therefore, I must conceded to that, though with caution – I am in the real-world of politics, but I am also pragmatic, inventive and revolutionary both in thoughts, strategy and implementation.
Let`s face it! The PDP and APC are solid political structures, but why? Who made them so? I will come back to this question, but first, let us ask ourselves one very relatable question – what wins election under Nigerian`s electoral law?
The above paragraph has only two sentences, but unpacking them deflects every argument against Peter Obi`s electability under the Labour Party.
Under the Nigerian political system and electoral laws what wins election are votes and not political parties. The number of votes cast at the ballot decides the winner and not the number of political parties that participated in the election.
These votes are not cast by political parties, or the members of these political parties alone. They are cast by the voting public much of whom do not belong to even a single political party. Members of the participating political parties make only a very negligible fraction of these voters.
Why then are parties so powerful? In other words, how then have these political parties become so powerful that they are considered the “structures” that decides the chances of any candidate in the election?
The answer is very simple. They are powerful because we made them so. We made them so because we relinquished the real structures that make the difference in the political equation – our resources, our strength, our numbers – OUR VOTES as Nigerians on whom the real power lies.
What is the population of PDP and APC membership? None of the two parties can give an honest answer to this, but circumstantially we can arrive at something close to the truth. The PDP website confirms that its facebook page followership is only but 307,000 as at date, while the multiple facebook pages for the APC, each boasts of followership of less than 150,000.
Yes, registered membership of these parties may be a little more – may be. We can concede to that, but this cannot be geometrically different from their social media presence and followership. There is also no other social media platform that is more popular to Nigerians than facebook.
You could therefore, safely assume that none of these political parties can boast of membership in excess of 500,000 nationwide. Forget about the trash that their propaganda machines spit out about their popularity and expect you to believe.
This, undoubtedly is an insignificant percentage of the 84,004,084 registered voters in INEC`s database as at 2019, which would have supersonically exploded in the recent continuous voters registration exercise for the 2023 election.
This is not to talk of very many other Nigerian youths who voluntarily opt to ignore their civic responsibility to register and vote in elections, but always prefer to remain politically active only on their social media pages.
Why then do we (Nigerians) regard these political organizations with such very infinitesimal membership as “very solid structure” to win elections, over and above our own numerical strength and advantage, if not for our acquiescence?
We acquiesce by pursuing the handouts they dangle before us instead of committing to and sacrificing for the real power and ability to make lasting changes in the body polity. We choose peanuts designed as “stomach infrastructure”, and then stand aloof and watch while the country burn.
In conventional thinking, we can assume that it takes three things to win election – popularity, credibility and political structure. However, there abounds instances where this conventional thinking has been punctured and deflected completely.
First instance is in France. In 2017, the current French president, Emmanuel Macron had almost none of the above. He was largely unknown. Also, he vied for the country`s under a newly registered political party.
His credibility was only based on what the French knew of his tenure as the Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs between 2014 and 2016, or perhaps the famous story of how he returned back to marry his high school teacher with 24 years age difference.
Another remarkable example is the current president of Ukraine, who is now the global personality for defense of freedom. President Volodymyr Zelensky was elected Ukrainian president right from the world of comedy and fiction.
Until his election, he knew nothing of politics. He also had no conventional political structure to his credit. Yet in 2019, he defeated an incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, who had all you could think of as political advantage, including money and solid campaign machinery.
In these two example amongst many others out there, what made the difference is the real political structure that matters – the people, the citizens, the electorates.
When the people took a stand, not even the so called “solid structures” provided by established political parties could crush their will.
2023 is the year Nigerians must take their stand. It is the year we must get it right. This will be done not by thinking the same we have thought in the past, or walking the misguided paths we have walked in the past. 2023 is the year of Nigeria`s political revolution, and Peter Obi is the face of that revolution.
The structure that Peter Obi needs for victory in the presidential election is not the political parties, but that structure called the NIGERIAN PEOPLE. Political party is only a mandatory legal requirement for candidature in the absence of independent candidacy.
Mr. Obi has made this mandatory requirement, which is to be sponsored by a political party. The rest of the job in the current struggle to unshackle the bondage we suffer in this country must be owed by every Nigerian.
The threats we face in this country are existential. We cannot afford to relinquish this very important political process to the political parties as we have done in the past. Not anymore. The best time to stop Nigeria`s decay and trepidation on the path to perdition was in 2019. The next best chance is now.
It is our duty to rise up and raise our voices against evil. We do not all have to carry guns, but we can get our PVC and make sure we vote in the next election. We must reject everyone with connection or with any propensity to continue this evil foundation that Muhammadu Buhari has led in this country.
This is the time to stand with the only option to keep Nigeria as one progressive and prosperous country. In 2023, all patriotic Nigerians must speak with our votes and our voices must be heard, collectively and individually: On Peter Obi we stand.
Written by Williams Ukonu Esq, lawyer and rights advocate. He is a Clariform columnist and a regular commentator on national issues. He tweets @WilliamsUkonu and can be reached at [email protected].
