by Emeka Obasi
Change was promised, expectations were high. It appeared many were shortchanged in an unending experiment that led to nowhere. The All Progressives Congress ( APC) enjoyed a free run until Peter Obi mounted the Soap Box through Labour Party.
To be fair to APC, there was no opposition because the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) died after May 29, 2015. For a mega party that boasted of ruling for 60 interrupted years, death came so quickly that many wondered if the party was for real in the first place.
The PDP became so fruitless that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the man who led them to Golgotha in 2015 began to float. It got worse when the same APC that sacked him from Aso Villa began to do tumbum tumbum with the Zoologist.
APC, being an amalgam of the good, the bad and the ugly began to behave like the citizens did not matter. Being the party in power, they did things that created more division in the polity. Insecurity grew to a frightening height that it became difficult to move freely within the country.
In Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai showed signs of things to come when he chose a muslim woman as running mate in 2019. This is a state that has as many Christians as Muslims and has become a flashpoint for religious skirmishes.
The El Rufai theory was extended to the centre when Senator Bola Tinubu, against all expectations, went for a Muslim as the party’s Vice Presidential candidate in the 2023 elections. Asiwaju had balanced religion in his Lagos powerhouse.
The PDP, dead as Dembele, came out out with a Northern presidential candidate at a time even the APC settled for a Southerner. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had benefitted so much from lower Benue magnanimity in the past but failed to play fair.
Peter Obi came at the right time. Those who loathed the APC and could not stomach the PDP found a platform to vent their spleen. Obi was hopeful that PDP would come back to life with a candidate from the South. That hope was crushed and he walked away in peace.
Obi did not float a new party. Knowing that the Nigerian Labourers deserved their wages he joined the Labour Party, the platform used by Segun Mimiko to govern Ondo State. It also offered Ovie Omo – Agege a senatorial breathing space, in the past.
Dan Nwanyanwu as Chairman of the old Labour Party dressed like a Texan cowboy. Many preferred his attire to the long flowing gowns of the APC and PDP. Obi came hatless, in a modest up and down outfit and probably Aba/ Ochanja designer shoes.
The people found their man. And they called themselves Obidients. PO went up North and found a running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed. The combination was good for the mood of the people. The duo are millionaires but are closer to the masses than the Billionaire Club.
While Obi and Datti continued to appeal to the masses, APC and PDP dismissed the Labour Party as inconsequential with no structure to win even Town Union elections. Pride consumed the Big Two Parties of Broom and Umbrella.
Obi went to Jos, Plateau shook in Obidience. He flew to Borno, Boko Haram ceased fire and the people were honoured to have someone share their pains with them. When Labour Party took campaign to Port Harcourt, the Garden City woke up from bondage.
We felt the Obi effect in Kaduna, El Rufai was ruffled. In Lagos, it was real Eko for Show. Lagos proved that Adams Oshiomhole was wrong to describe the Labour Party as four persons tweeting from a room. In his state, Edo, the Oba of Benin, in his wisdom saw that Obi had become phenomenal.
Elections came and LP became sweet music to the ear. Eluu Pi 77, 78 turned a hit track that was rendered in parties, schools and places of worship. And one good thing about soulful music is that it knows neither party nor religion.
Events in Lagos were bitter. Ethnic politics was applied. Lives were threatened and lost. Yet, Labour Party did so well that the APC had to restrategise. Only Obidients could have taken Lagos from the political overlords in Asiwaju’s Camp.
I laughed in Awori when Oro Politics came into play. I knew it was meant to scare voters. I laughed the more when those who applied Ororo failed to realise that it was not the Igbo that gave LP presidential advantage in Eko.
You had more Yoruba, Hausa, Edo, Ibibio, Fulani, Tiv, Izon, Berom backing Obi with votes within Lagos than the Igbo. I know of hard core Igbo in Lagos who mobilised support for Jagaban and I know of an elderly Urhobo couple who walked quite some distance to vote for Obi.
I laughed at those who ran away from Oro. That act reminded me of Mrs Olufunmilayo Ransom Kuti, the Lioness of Lisabi, Iya Egbe ( Mother of the Society). When Egba women were threatened with Ogboni and Oro, she stood her ground and what was considered abominable made her great when she snatched the Oro stick.
Fela’s mother must have giggled in her grave when Oro which could not stop the Abeokuta Women’s Union ( AWU ) in 1947 was used against Lagos Voters in 2023. Fear is not a political weapon. Women sent the Alake on exile in 1949.
However, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu rode on Oro to stand firm. It was a funny political strategy and it worked.
You see what Peter Obi caused. I can bet my grand father’s 1928 Reo lorry than that no Oro masquerade came out to frighten people. People just heard Oro and Japa.
