By Gideon Obhakhan

 I read the letter written by Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on the 1st of January 2023, titled “My appeal to all Nigerians particularly Young Nigerians”. Among other things, OBJ, as he is popularly called, endorsed the candidacy of Peter Obi who is vying for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

While I respect OBJ’s personal views as a Nigerian citizen, I believe his letter deserves a rejoinder so that Nigerian electorates can weigh all options available to them and make informed decision regarding the best man for the job. While many people may ignore OBJ’s recent letter simply because he has written several letters in the past that did not yield meaningful results, I chose to respond to this letter because it is coming at a critical moment in Nigeria’s political journey.

A rejoinder is also apt for the singular reason that the electorates need to be properly guided as they prepare to make the all-important decision of electing the next leader that will build on what President Muhammadu Buhari has achieved over the last couple of years.

Former President Obasanjo anchored his endorsement of Nigeria’s next President on four key attributes thus: Track record of ability and performance; Vision that is authentic, honest and realistic; Character and attributes of a lady and a gentleman who are children of God and obedient to God; and Physical and mental capability with soundness of mind. While I wholeheartedly agree with OBJ that Nigeria’s next President needs to possess these qualities among others, his submission falls short of fairness and objectivity in endorsing Mr Peter Obi in the same letter without making any effort to compare Obi with other candidates before drawing conclusion on his preferred candidate. His position, therefore, can only mislead the uninformed public if they were to take his comments to heart without doing due diligence.

How did OBJ carry out his analysis before he zeroed in on Peter Obi? In the area of track record and performance, did OBJ consider Obi’s achievement in isolation to make the decision? Did he compare his performance with those of other candidates? If he carried out any detailed analysis on Obi’s performance in the areas of economy, security and infrastructure development in Anambra State and compared that with what Asiwaju Bola Tinubu did in Lagos as governor, will he still objectively rate Obi above Tinubu? While Tinubu was able to create an environment in Lagos where people could sleep with their eyes closed, Obi could not fix security issues in Anambra State.

Anambra became a den of kidnappers. The level of insecurity became obvious when Obi’s successor, Governor Willie Obiano came into power in 2014. Evidence abounds where Obiano was seen destroying houses where kidnap victims were being held hostage. This was what Obi couldn’t achieve while in office. As regards character, I wonder how OBJ drew his conclusion between Peter Obi and others. It is on record that Peter Obi swore to remain in APGA and help develop the party to achieve the Party’s objectives, in line with the original thoughts of the party’s founding fathers, including late Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. I personally watched a video of Peter Obi on national television, where he said and I quote: “A leader needs to be consistently consistent and not jump from one party to another… You can achieve whatever you want from anywhere…”. Yet this is a man that has jumped from APGA to PDP to Labour Party in search of power. Can we really compare this character with that of a man like Tinubu for instance, who has remained steadfast against all odds and built a political party from being a party in only one State, to becoming a National party that could unseat a seating President? I am however, not surprised that OBJ had to write the New Year letter because considering the burden of survival that Obi is currently carrying, he needs sympathizers to come to his rescue.

 Just recently when some online polls results were released placing him in the number one position, it provided some respite for him and the “OBIdient” family. Social media was agog in celebration of his online poll victory as if the main election had been conducted and election results declared.

Their celebration was cut short when the Director General of Obi/Datti campaign organization, Dr Doyin Okupe was convicted for breaching the Money Laundering Act and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

 Okupe’s conviction led to his resignation from the position as campaign DG, as he could not carry the moral burden of remaining at the top of the campaign organization having been convicted. Unfortunately for Peter Obi, the Labour Party ended up with a new DG, Akin Osuntokun who is now battling with the moral burden of having his name on INEC’s website as the Senatorial candidate of Zenith Labour Party, ZLP for Ekiti Central Senatorial district, while playing a prominent role in the campaigns of another political party. Although Osuntokun, a mentee of Obasanjo, has struggled to convince the public that he has abandoned his senatorial ambition, he has not officially withdrawn from the race.

This has made the public to question the character of people Peter Obi has around him. It is therefore not surprising that the letter writer from Ogun State had to write a consolatory letter to keep his hope alive. The questions however are: how many letters have been written by OBJ since the beginning of the fourth Republic? How many of them have yielded positive results? What impact do analogue letters have in today’s digital world where electorates are exposed to digital information to guide their decisions? I believe the answers to these questions are not as difficult as brain surgery and requires no genius to provide them.

In a few weeks, Nigerians will come out in their numbers to choose the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria irrespective of how many letters OBJ decides to write. Gideon Obhakhan, former Edo State Commissioner for Education, is the Secretary, Public Affairs, Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council