From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Monday, September 12, will remain evergreen in the minds of those who want change from the old order in the nation’s political landscape. It was the day and the first in Abia, that the entire Abiriba community in Ohafia Local Government Area of the state, staged a one million man march for Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate.
During the carnival-like march, members of Abiriba community moved round the streets of the ‘small London’ (as Abiriba is often called), in their numbers to
endorse Peter Obi, the party’s governorship candidate, Dr Alex Otti, and Nnamdi Iro Orji , the Senatorial candidate for Abia North. Speaking on the one million march and the support for Peter Obi, one of the coordinators of the event, Ukoha Njoku said, “a typical Abiriba man just like his other brothers in the South East, is a trader like Peter Obi, we believe in private sector driven economy”.
Njoku said, “In a long while in Nigeria, we’ve been having government that dominated everything, that kills everything, that kills private sector driven businesses, that kills trading which is the bedrock of any civilised nation especially in capitalist economies. Even in communist economies, they are reforming to embrace free market economy.
“So, Abiriba is a free market community, and for the first time in our history as a country probably in the past 40, 50 years, we’ve never had it this good; we’ve never had somebody that came out and said look, ‘I am going to create an enabling environment for traders and businessmen to strive.
“So, that’s why Abiriba community sees this as an opportunity to promote a candidate that will promote the businesses they are doing. That’s the motivation behind the one million man march in Abiriba”.
Not deterred that Abia has been a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) controlled state since 1999, Njoku had no doubt that people of the area have become “Obident”.
“Abiriba has been voting the PDP, and the promises they have been making, Abiriba has been believing them, but 24 years down the line, we have seen nothing positive and the people knowing that if you continue to do the same thing and expecting to get a different result, that person should be taken to a psychiatrist hospital, have decided to try something new, try a different party, a party of someone who has been in the private sector. Peter Obi has been in the private sector just like Alex Otti, the LP Guber candidate has also been in the private sector and Iro Orji, the Senatorial candidate is equally in the private sector”.
In addition to the above reason why the people are shifting grounds politically next year, Njoku had this to say. “We’ve tried bureaucrats like Sen T.A Orji, Okezie Ikpeazu was a teacher, So, teachers have failed us, bureaucrats have also failed us, let’s try a businessman from another part”.
Over the period, the one million march for Peter Obi has been taking place in state capitals, but that of Abia was done in Abiriba, a community in the Northern fringes of the state, about 80 kilometres from the capital city of Umuahia. But it was done for a purpose according to one of the organizers, Olua Okoh. He said: “Yes, all other rallies and road walks in support of Peter Obi have been done in the capital city, so, giving credence to what the opposition has been saying, to what these people holding Nigeria hostage have been saying that Peter Obi is all about social media and people that are not on ground.
“Abiriba did her own to domesticate the rally at the village level and it was a bump, which means Peter Obi’s campaign is not domesticated at the capitals, and the social media only; it has been taken down to the villages. It has been accepted by the ordinary people, the real Nigerians; that is the statement made in Abiriba and I can assure you that other people will take the campaign down to their villages”.
On the issue of Peter Obi not having structure as is being canvassed in some quarters, Okoh sees that as the message of the old order. He was quick to add, “Maybe they didn’t follow the election in Kenya, where Kenyans made a strong statement that the citizens are the structures. When you talk about structures in Nigeria, it is where you tell people to go and carry ballot boxes which is no longer in vogue.
He gave an instance of what happened in Grenade, where a ruling party that has over 95 percent of members of parliament lost power to a seven month old political party. “So, nobody is talking about their structure because the structure remains the people; no structure will go and vote on the day of the election, but the people.
“The ordinary people are the structures Peter Obi has and what happened in the countries I mentioned above will also replicate in Nigeria in 2023”.
Also speaking, a member of Abiriba Support Group for Peter Obi (ASGROPO), Kalu Ireke Onuma expressed joy that Peter Obi who he described as a cool-headed man, has gradually metamorphosed to become a man of the people, that is determined to pull the country out of its current doldrums.
“A majority of Nigerians, particularly the youths, agree that this, indeed, is a pointer to the coming of good things for Nigeria. They earnestly believe that this is a precursor to the real change the older politicians have been promising Nigerians to no avail”.
On the issue of Peter Obi actualizing Biafra if he gets to power as president of Nigeria, a participant at the event, Jumbo Kalu said this has been one of the old rhetoric those who have been holding the country down has been using to deceive Nigerians.
He said: “The ordinary Northerner is suffering just like the ordinary Easterner and the ordinary Westerner. It is an old story they use to deceive the people. The level of poverty in the North is enough to let them know they have suffered and should need a change which Peter Obi is bringing”.
Kalu noted that Obi’s emergence is the people’s movement. “If you look at him, he is not desperate to rule Nigeria, he is desperate to give Nigeria back to Nigerians. It’s even Nigerians wanting to take back their country through Peter Obi and not him wanting to take Nigeria as has been the old order.
“The talakawas in the North understand what is going on, even when most of them have not gone to school, give it to them, they are also human beings, they have common sense and that common sense should be able to tell them this story is an old one, no one should buy that narrative any more”, he said.
Analysts believe the problem with the South East over the years, which incidentally is the home and strong support base for Peter Obi, is voter apathy. In previous elections in Abia for instance, when people from other regions would troop out en masse to vote their preferred candidates, some youths in the state would be out on the streets playing football.
However, with Peter Obi’s declaration for the presidential race, many believe that apathy is apparently going to give way to something positive, judging from what happened during the last voters’ registration exercise.
In Abia during the exercise, there was voter registration revolution ostensibly as a result of Peter Obi’s joining of the presidential race on the platform of Labour Party. The people were not induced and it was more of a People’s movement.
The organizers of the Abiriba one million march for Peter Obi said they were leveraging on the unprecedented zeal of the people who clamoured to have their permanent voter’s card (PVC).
Okoh throws more light on this, “One thing about Peter Obi’s campaign, is that it is being driven by volunteers. What we did in Abiriba, nobody contacted Peter Obi, nobody contacted Alex Otti or Iro Orji, it was people-driven. If there was any fund expended there, it was contributed by the ordinary people.
“We have volunteers who will be going from house to house, compound to compound to educate people on the need for them to come out en masse on the day of the election and of course vote Peter Obi.
“Next year’s election is not about coming to share 4 litres of kerosene or 2 cups of rice, people are tired of these things, they need their children to get good jobs, to do their businesses and be able to cater for their relations”, he said.
On the issue of vote buying which may mar the chances of Obi winning the election, Kalu said they are not giving anything to chance. “We are sensitizing our people not to reject the money, but accept them and do the right thing at the appropriate time. It is like a thief breaking into your house to steal N1m and gives you back N10,000, you should take it because it is your money they stole they are giving you back. Take the money and vote the right person”.
On the fears in some quarters about the chances of Obi winning the election going by the way politics is played in Nigeria, Njoku gave his political permutation to counter such fears. “Obi is going to win the election clean”, he said. He did the arithmetic. “Let me do the arithematc, South East is closed, South south is closed. South West is not even closed for Bola Tinubu. People over there want a Nigeria that is working for everybody and of course, it’s going for Peter Obi. Lagos is a battle ground state.
“North Central will partially go to Obi; the only place we have not closed down is the core North and before the election starts, positive things will happen there.
“You should not forget the population of the Nigeria workers, when you talk about structure, they are the structures”.
Others who spoke at the event, including the chairman, Enuda High school Abiriba Alumni Association, Chief Inem Nwaka and Dr. Nwokocha O. Eze expressed excitement at the turnout, noting that the people of Abiriba are now “Obident”.
They noted that the endorsement of Obi, Otti and Orji, made under the popular ‘achi tree’ in the community was authentic, and that any endorsement on any other candidate after that, remains invalid.
They said Nigerians have suffered enough and 2023 is the time to experience change which according to them Obi, Otti and Orji can offer to the country and Abia state
Although he has ardent hope in Obi turning the country around for good, Njoku however said, “Obi is not going to do any magic, we are not expecting him to turn Nigeria into El Dorado overnight. Nigeria is like a vehicle heading into the Atlantic Ocean; what Obi will do is to redirect it to where it should be. Obi is going to give Nigeria direction and hope.”