JOY ANIGBOGU 

The support base of Peter Obi has continued to increase since he joined the Labour Party after he pulled out of the Presidential Primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in May.

Obi has since been gaining popularity, especially among young people, and some Nigerians are beginning to think that the 2023 general elections will spring surprises.

Judging by the increasing number of youths across the ethnic and religious divides who have joined what has come to be known as obi-dient movement, a group of followers who identify with the presidential ambition of the former Anambra State governor, it is obvious that Peter Obi’s political fortune has soared.

Supporting the political movement, and the choice of the youths to align with Peter Obi, Dele Farotimi, a lawyer and political analyst said that the candidacy of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party has given hope to Nigerian youths.

Farotimi who spoke on Arise TV on Monday also warned of anarchy if the 2023 general election is manipulated, stressing that the candidacy of Obi is the only thing that has energized the youths and if that hope is truncated there could be reasons to be worried about the forthcoming general elections.

He said, “Nigeria has become a hopeless state over the past seven years. The youths are completely hopeless. Buhari’s administration has sapped all the energies and hope of the Nigerian people. We are not going to run away, but we have to be given hope in one form or the other.

“The only candidate that has energized the youths and given them hope in this season is Peter Obi. If that hope is dashed, if the Nigerian state contrives to take away that, because this hope appears to be the only reason that Nigerian youth wakes up in the morning with hope in his heart, then there will be a reason to be afraid. There would be several reasons to be afraid because hope denied provokes violence. Nigeria is already violent in the way it is and if they now take away the hope that there might be some changes at the end of this process that is to be feared.

Talking about his concerns about the coming election, he said, “I absolutely fear nothing. I am excited about the coming election. I am excited about the energy of the youths, who have been given hope by Peter Obi’s candidacy.

“I am not sure that Nigeria will be ready for what will happen if the mandate is stolen or if their will is discounted. EndSARS was essentially a protest of the hopeless.

Farotimi added, “The only thing that has appeared to have energized the people who were largely involved in that struggle is the candidacy of Peter Obi. They have been silenced in terms of noise making, everybody is facing the election. You see a bit of the exuberance that has been mistaken in some quarters for the obi-dient movement being combative but that is because they have been rendered hopeless and this is the only thing that they are holding on to.

“For me, it is going to be an interesting time. The coming five, or six months will be very interesting. The only thing to be feared is for anybody who will think that he might be able at one level or the other to truncate the hope of the Nigerian people

On his choice of Obi, he said, “There is an issue that I believe needs to be addressed. Nigeria claims to be a federation, and one of the foundations of the federation is federal character. That federal character didn’t come recently. It is something that has been in our constitution as far back as 1954.

“Going by that I cannot look beyond an Igbo candidate in this race and thank God that there is an eminently qualified in this race and that is the person I will support, that is Peter Obi,” he said.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the National Consultative Front, NCFront, the umbrella platform of the 3rd Force Movement of Nigeria, which adopted the Labour Party as the 3rd Force Mega Party for the 2023 elections in Nigeria has warned detractors and adversaries of the 3rd Force Recuse Agenda for Nigeria to desist from planting false stories and propaganda in the media against the presidential candidate and leaders of the Labour Party

Fielding questions from some top Lawyers, who attended the 32nd Annual General Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association at the Eko Atlantic in Lagos at the weekend,

A press statement on Sunday signed by Ms Bilikis Bello, Communications Consultant, the Director General of NCFront – 3rd Force Coalition, Veteran Olawale Okunniyi, hinted that a crack team of media experts would be constituted by the NCFront to track and tackle false stories and propaganda presently being planted to smear Labour Party presidential flagbearer, Mr Peter Obi, leaders and leading lights of the big tent of Obi-dient 3rd Force Movement like Prof Pat Utomi and others by some sponsored media blackmailers and crooks

Okunniyi, the convener of the 3rd Force Movement and a key advocate of Civil society in Nigerian Politics also debunked the allegations that there’s a rift between Obi and Utomi over imaginary campaign funds, saying it is the imagination and wishful thinking of enemies of the 3rd Force 2023 Revolution of the Labour Party as there was nothing like that in reality.

Okunniyi popularly referred to as the ‘Veteran Che’ of Nigerian Politics by his associates, also used the auspices to dispel the rumour that there was a covert deal that would make Peter Obi work for Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party to win the 2023 elections.

He contended that Peter Obi has since gone beyond Nigerian conventional politics and has become the symbol of the Nigerian People’s Revolution and therefore such an imaginary deal is unfathomable as the Nigerian peoples and masses are bound to resist it.

“Peter Obi is no longer Peter Obi of himself anymore but Peter Obi of the Nigerian Peoples and Masses, who has decided to sacrifice himself, on trust, for the People’s Revolution to rescue Nigeria from imminent anarchy and collapse come 2023. So, let’s perish the such ungodly idea of any mercenary politics as far as Peter Obi is concerned” Okunniyi stated

“However, we are not unaware of the plots and schemes of our adversaries to discredit and truncate our intervention and frustrate us from saving the country from their disastrous grip and misrule. They have suddenly woken up to the reality that a 3rd Force is possible in Nigeria and are now in panicky mode, doing everything to thwart the 2023 Ballot revolution of the mass of the Nigerian people”

While concluding the interactive session, Okunniyi further clarified that there is no conflict and clash between the activities of the Labour Party, NCFront and the Big Tent led by Prof Pat Utomi as being peddled by the adversaries of Peter Obi and the Labour Party as their activities are one and complimentary and there is no clash in their operations as wished by the detractors of the 2023 Ballot Revolution of the 3rd Force Obi-dient Movement.