Peter Obi and the Emergence of a Third Force: Warning to Nigerian Politicians

By Ben Agbo (Rev Fr)

Nature abhors vacuum. Every vacuum creates a need. ‘Necessity’ they say, ‘is the mother of invention’. We have seen the most recent developments in the ongoing party primaries in Nigeria. The game is getting hotter and sweeter. At least there is progress because, before now, Nigerians are not akin to watching these preliminary political tournaments. Many didn’t even know when the match was played in 2014. All we saw was the emergence of two leaders: Goodluck and Buhari, and we all struggled willy nilly, to queue behind them.

My analysis of the game is that so many new political realities and challenges especially in the area of insecurity and bad economy have gripped the Nigerian populace today, especially the sober ones. No one is sure of the status quo again. Even the cabals that govern Nigeria are not sure of maintaining their lordship. The religious alliances and political hegemonies governing Nigeria are sensing their leaking roofs and crevices. While the youths, the hungry, the disgruntled, the religious fanatics, the frustrated Nigerian students, etc. have resorted to terrorism and insurgency both in the North and South, a few hopeful ones (party faithfuls) have resorted to beggarly transactional politics. They are the ones that parade themselves now as party delegates, eager to eat voluptuously from the crumbs that fall from the master’s table and ready to sell the future of their children to the highest bidder. We are now left with a few sober people in politics who still have the guts of true statesmanship and the political will to move the nation forward. This is the group that Peter Obi belongs.

With the resignation of Pete Obi from the PDP few days after the successful one-million-man march by his supporters round the whole federation, the battle line has been drawn. It is time for issue based campaign in Nigeria. It is time for the politics of ideology and meritocracy to govern the political parties. As the support for Peter Obi keeps soaring up like a tsunami, I can see the emergence of a 3rd force alignment; an alignment on one hand, of embittered people who feel that the two mega parties have failed them and failed Nigeria and those who have a burning passion to help fix this nation for better. However, it is not enough to form an alliance.

In 2014 we had one that led to APC. But where are they now? Did they impart any difference from PDP? The reason is simple: They only united as opposition to fight a common enemy and wrestle power from PDP. But when the mantle of leadership was handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari, his cluelessness was raised to power 3 in comparison with his predecessor.

It is now time for Political Parties to emphasize excellence and merit in the choice of their candidates. It is time for Political Parties to emphasize transparency in their Primary elections. It is time for transactional politics to die and give way for technocratic politics and he, Mr. Peter Obi is ready to lead this movement. It is time that demand for gratification by delegates and financial inducement as was alleged that some delegates received N400,000 in one of the states of the South East, would become a clean recipe for EFCC brouhaha.

It is time when Politicians with a consumerist ‘ashua azuma’ mentality must be jeered in the public domain because there is nothing more to share. With the electronic transmission of votes by INEC, Nigerians are expecting a demographic change in election results. We are expecting that the people who organized a one-million-man march in support of Peter Obi should be able now to translate their support electronically into countable decisive votes. Let us show those determined to destroy Nigeria that democracy is not plutocracy.