By Chinelo Obogo
Pat Utomi-led Big Tent Coalition of political parties and civil society groups for ObiDatti, at the weekend, held first political telethon on television that brought Nigerians from across the globe together on a televised 13-hour live programme to engage them on ObiDatti movement agenda.
In a statement by Charles Odibo, director of media and communications for the Big Tent, Utomi urged Nigerians “to own the new direction for Nigeria and fund it and stop this tragedy of state not being able to function because governors who can’t pay pensions would go and borrow money, take half of the state’s budget from security account to pursue their political career interests.”
The Big Tent convener also unveiled Obidatti Compassion Angels as one of his commitments in raising funds through the telethon to support internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps in northern Nigeria.
Utomi said the country is in the throes of a revolution and unprecedented massive change, from a period of inactive citizenship to a period where citizens themselves are the ones creating political movements.
Tracing the evolution of humanity’s socialisation, he said at the lowest level of social evolution according to Greek philosophers are ‘idiots’, a description of people who think only about themselves from which they transcended to tribesmen who are a notch ahead of idiots because they do not care for themselves alone but care for others but the others they cared for were those they shared some affinity with, a parochial kind of relationship and, therefore, consider anyone outside their parochial and primordial links as an enemy.
Utomi, however, noted that when people make further progress they become citizens because citizens are those according to philosophers, who share their humanity, they recognise their shared humanity.
“What matters to them is the common good of all, not necessarily the primordial considerations. We have reached a stage in the Nigerian society where we ask who are the citizens, who are the tribesmen, who are the idiots amongst us.
“It looks like a group of citizens decided that enough was enough in terms of how much progress has Nigeria made and that process needed to kick up a broad tent that will bring people together because they are human beings into a better view of their world.
“Nothing could have facilitated that happening more than the fact that as Peter Obi pointed out in his speech from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, the naked truth of our reality is that bread will not be sold differently for a Yoruba man than it would be sold to a Kanuri man, so if there is going to be hunger, it will get all of us. And guess what, there is hunger in the land.
“Our own government agency recently indicated that 133 million of us live in multifaceted, multidimensional poverty. What happened is that we have leadership that could not exercise imagination. This is why a new Nigeria, under a new leadership, is important because we have fallen to the bottom and are now saying enough is enough,” he said.
Highlighting the growth of the ‘Obidient’ organic movement, Utomi said: “Labour party and those who do not want to be partisan but wanted a new Nigeria which is possible, social movements, and labour unions, started to hold conversations that led to an organic movement that has thrown up an Obi candidacy, such that every poll of seriousness that has been conducted has put this so-called outsider ahead of the traditional party candidates.
“Having come where we have come to, we needed to get the people to own this process. And what a better way than a telethon in which you put your money where your mouths are to own this process, own this new structure that will determine a new Nigeria in which pursuit of power is not for state capture, but pursuit of power is for use of power to serve the greater good of the greater number of our people.”
The day featured the likes of Onyeka Owenu, Tee Mac, and other promising young artistes, deep-dive experts from the policy review and future view team of the Big Tent also gave further insight into the seven-pronged agenda of the ObiDatti’s acclaimed manifesto.