2023 EELCTION: Political contests come with surprises and the upcoming Nigerian national elections looks like it will be dishing out some these surprises in the wake of the 2023 presidential election slated for the first quarter of the year.
BASIC FACTS
- The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi has become the candidate to beat in the upcoming presidential election.
- The LP candidate is a first time contender of the office of the president, but has in a very short time sprang to very enviable status in the race.
- Obi was a two-term governor of Anambra State, and left a towering legacy that has come to make way for him in the current political dispensation.
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK), the spokesperson of the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have in a very unusual way cried out about the rise of the Labour Party candidate, Mr Peter Obi, while warning about Obi`s sudden and phenomenal rise in the political space.
In a new article made available to Clariform, the vociferous political stalwart who recently moved to the APC from the APC have sounded a note of warning to his party and the current political establishments of a possible displacement by the new political movement, which Peter Obi is leading.
FFK in the article admitted that the LP candidate stands for a credible political ideology, which is spreading like wildfire, while suggesting that he (Peter Obi) needs to be stopped, and to do so, the APC needs to rise to the occasion to “understand” his supporters.
Notwithstanding the acknowledgement of the fact that Peter Obi stands for something good for the country, FFK says he is “NOT a supporter of Peter Obi and I have NO intention of becoming one. I am however interested in what his supporters represent and stand for…”
NOTABLE QUOTES
Writing about the OBIdients, FFK said “They are worthy of my attention only because their rise and relevance in the political configuration of our nation, just in a matter of weeks, is meteoric and phenomenal. In order to counter and defeat them or to keep them in their place we must at least attempt to understand them and figure out how their minds work.
“Those that are the supporters of Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, are known as ‘Obidients’ and they are everywhere.
“Those of us in the larger political parties like the ruling APC and the opposition PDP, treat them with contempt and ignore them at our own peril.
The truth is that they are far more dangerous to our collective course as a ruling class than many of us can possibly conceive or appreciate. Only the discerning can appreciate this and know precisely where this whole thing may be heading.
“They may not have structures or elected representatives in the legislative and executive arms of government but they have ideas and vision coupled with a clear ideological and philosophical bent which can and will endure for far longer than mere political platforms and structures.
“Unknown to them as well as virtually everyone else, therein lies their power. As they say, an idea whose time has come cannot be stopped. Long after we are all gone they will still be here because structures and political alliances rarely endure but ideas and vision last forever.
“Again they will outlive and outlast us all because they are not a political party in the true sense of the word but rather a growing national movement which scales and spreads across ethnic, religious, political and regional lines and traditional boundaries.
“They also represent a generational and paradigm shift which is increasingly attractive to many and they are bound tightly together by a common purpose, common cause and common objective: namely to rid Nigeria of the old order and usher in the new. That is really what they want to do and that is the primary and strongest source of their inspiration and motivation.
“Despite that they are determined to fight to the end, hope for the best, work hard and give it their best shot and, of course, therein lies their victory. In this game courage is the key. As they say, ‘he who dares wins’. Again as they say, ‘fortune favours the bold’ and these young people are both daring and bold.
“That they can challenge the status quo and vie for the sacred and awesome power that has been shared by the two major political parties or their ancestral variants over the last 62 years is commendable in itself. I am not part of them but I certainly commend and applaud their efforts. They too have a right to fight for their rights and future and to be heard. They too have a dream and a story to tell and we must never begrudge them that.”
TAKEAWAY
Chief Kayode said that the OBIdients “may not have structures or elected representatives in the legislative and executive arms of government but they have ideas and vision coupled with a clear ideological and philosophical bent which can and will endure for far longer than mere political platforms and structures.”
“Yet if the truth be told they are not only interested in winning an election but, perhaps even more importantly, they are interested in making a profound and defiant statement, registering their protest against the status quo and the powers that be and triggering and engendering a full scale, comprehensive and all-embracing social, cultural and political revolution.
They want a real and fundamental change and not a fake one. They want to pull the whole house and system down with everyone in it and rebuild a new one in their own image, with their own values and on their own terms.
Most important of all, they want to see the backs of those of us that are in any way associated with the old order or that have been in Government or the corridors of power at ANY point in time over the last 62 years. That desire and sentiment is the force that is driving and propelling them and that is kindling their fire and swelling their ranks.”
