By Donu Kogbara

I’VE noticed something interesting: Whenever articles supporting Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, appear on this page, I NEVER get any push back from Vanguard readers.

Nobody contacts me to say that they disagree with my view that Obi is the best candidate. I don’t even receive mild objections. Nobody gets in touch to dump aggression on my head and insult Obi or tell me that I’m a fool for standing by him. Nobody sends me texts or emails describing another candidate or political party as superior.

The only responses I have received so far are overwhelmingly positive comments from readers who want Obi to triumph.

Should I therefore assume that every single reader of this Sweet and Sour weekly column is Obi-dient?!

Or is it more realistic to conclude that the complete absence of anti-Obi reactions from readers is evidence of voter apathy rather than proof that Obi enjoys universal approval within this context?

Is it that some of you don’t care who wins and simply cannot be bothered to argue with me or any supporter of any candidate?

Or do some of you dislike Obi but think that sharing your opinions with me will be a complete waste of time because you regard me as a die-hard Obi fan who cannot be reasoned with?

Please let me have some feedback. I’d love to know where you stand.

In the meantime, many thanks to the many Vanguard readers who took the trouble to respond to last week’s column, in which I wrote about Igbos who are reluctant to root for their brother Obi because: a) they think that Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the Governor of Anambra State, will be a better representative of their ethnic group, and b) they are grooming Soludo to run for the presidency in 2027.

The following response came from Henry, a Rivers State indigene:  

“Charles Chukwuma Soludo and his co-travellers of Igbo extraction who have decided to subvert Peter Obi’s presidential ambition deserve our profound pity. These people have decided to cut off their noses to spite their faces. They hide behind freedom of expression and crave our understanding.

“Clearly, these characters are deluded on a scale that magnifies the reason why persons of other ethnic stock treat Igbos with suspicion. Soludo and his co-travellers must realise that Obi is not popular because he is Igbo. Far from it!

“Anti-Obi elements of Igbo extraction must realise that Peter Obi is popular for completely different reasons altogether. These people must realise that victims of banditry, victims of kidnaping, victims of poverty, victims of EndSARS riots/demonstration, victims of economic dislocation, victims of petrol scarcity and endless price increases, victims of the almost eight years of APC maladministration and victims in the IDP camps have all found expression in Obi’s candidacy because he appears refreshingly different. That’s the reason why he is popular!!

“Those of them who have chosen to travel down this odious path are scavengers who have always fed fat off the state. They are self-seeking carpetbaggers who are blinded by their greed. They must realise that there is always a reckoning, and that history would not be kind to them.”  

Another message, this one from Chief Nwosu of Imo State:

Good Evening Dear Donu:

Last week, I shed tears. I asked myself, why do we kill our own? Thanks for shedding light to truth. Why can’t those that “want tomorrow”, groom and oil the wheel of today? My people hate their blood.

Portrait of a quintessential police officer  

MY friend and brother, Boniface Dumpe, is burying his beloved father today in our village, Bodo City in Ogoniland; and I’ve decided to publish an excerpt from the tribute he has written.

Born in 1943, the late Sir Ignatius Tegbo Viele (KSJ) retired as an Assistant Superintendent of Police. A cursory look his career path and lifetime, paints a portrait of dedicated service from a humble beginning and a dogged determination to succeed.

He epitomised the saying that the true worth of a man does not consist in his wealth, stature or status but in the strength of character. For instance, his poor parents could not afford to send any of their seven children to school but he engaged in fishing for sale and struggled to obtain basic education.

He joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1973, at barely one year in service, while in a team of operation at a check point in Port Harcourt, he single-handedly apprehended a team of armed robbers, got them arrested and recovered the stolen properties.

He was recognised for his remarkable flair in the investigation of criminal cases and was deployed as a Divisional Crime Branch officer for many years before he consummated his career as the Head of Records at the Rivers State Police Headquarters.

The late Sir Viele was an ardent and uncompromising Catholic with a strong faith in the God of possibilities. He was appointed a Knight of St. John International and one of his favourite sermons was: “With conscientious living and hard work, we shall all become what God, in His infinite mercies, had destined us to be, no matter the challenges or obstacles we may face”. He continuously tracked and encouraged my progress and that of my children and siblings until ill-health prevented him. He was a quintessential father to say the least!

I feel deeply pained that after he had sacrificed so much for me, he came down with ill-health at the onset of my own career progress. My pain is accentuated by the fact that at the point of his retirement from service to a well-deserved rest, and enjoyment of his labour of love, he rather suffered under ill-health and pains from when he first encountered stroke in 2006 to when he passed on in November 14, 2022.

I am however consoled in the belief that he had earned a place in the choir of Angels to praise God for ever. May he rest in peace. Amen.