Democratic Rascality and a People Awoke -By Tony Osakpamwan Agbons

Early this year, February 2022, to be precise, I penned a piece titled, The Symphony of Democratic Immorality. The high point of it was the apathy of the Nigerian citizenry to the political and democratic process. The second point was the unimaginable misdemeanour and profligacy of the current political class. In that piece, the summation of my deposition was that the Nigerian citizens must coalesce, unite in purpose, and send the current crop of wicked, inhuman politicians a clear message. Politics is a game of numbers and we the people need to take active part in the political process. If the right candidates do not emerge from the political parties, voting for irresponsible contestants on election day is akin to facing the devil and the deep blue sea. The crux of our leadership conundrum is at the party level. It is clear to every discerning mind that credible candidates must first emerge from the political parties for Nigerians to begin to have a political pulse again. We find a solution to the mountain that is credible candidature, and we will be good to go!.  The write up went further to admonish Nigerians; “As a people let us stop blaming others for a problem we can resolve collectively. No doubt about it, Politics can be a dirty game, but in politics, lies the salvation of our shared nationhood. It is often said, “After God, the next most powerful force is Government”.

Fast forward to June 2022, the dynamics of Nigeria’s politics and political temperature has changed. The Nigerian people are awoke! There is a new vibe in town even more than the hype of the famed ‘Amenor’ hit track song or the trending, ‘Buga’ rave by Kizz Daniels. The current political vibration has come with a new lexicon never seen before in our political thesaurus. The word on the lips of majority of Nigerians across our population demographic is OBIDIENT. Take it or leave it, the new phrase is bigger and louder than a few we have seen or heard in times past such as ‘Orwegbe’ during the struggle for the creation of the Midwest region from the then Western region of Nigeria in the early 1960s. We have also had the ‘Sai Buhari’ chant that brought incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015, and the ‘otege’ shout that crashed the Saraki stranglehold on Kwara State politics in 2019. More recently we saw the upstage of the status quo and defeat of Godfatherism, Lion and Tigers by the ‘Torgba’ movement that led to the victory of His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki in Edo State in 2020.

Like it or not, the new word in town is Obidient. There are several variants namely OBIdiently, Obidiency, Obi-volution, Obicracy, Obi or not to Obi to mention but a few.  Folks now wake up in the morning, beginning their exchange of pleasantries with, `good morning OBIdiently` and end conversations with, ‘we go block tomorrow OBIdiently’.  Folks nowadays, ask questions face to face, and online; “I hope you are OBIdient?”.  The list is endless. Just this week, our electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in their update for Week 11 in the 4^th quarter stated that the ongoing Permanent Voters Card, PVC registration exercise has recorded over 10.4 million new voters. About 6 million of this number are youths. For a commission that has spent millions of naira on voter’s sensitisation in the past three years without success to suddenly witness this turn out of voter registration, is evidence that a stimulus has and continues to agitate the polity. Something somewhere must be responsible for the surge. Look no further, that something somewhere is Peter Gregory Obi, Obidient 1 of Nigeria and chief stimulant of Nigeria’s current political entropy and enthalpy. No ifs, no buts.

Sensing the ‘wuruwuru and magomago’ in the PDP, Peter Obi `Ob-eyed` the inner recesses of his honest, transparent being and pitched his tent with the Labour Party and ‘kpitikum’ (to borrow the words of Chief Zebrudaya of the New Masquerade sitcom) there is an astronomical surge in PVC registration and collection. Many Nigerians who had vowed not to have anything to do with politics and voting are suddenly making a U-turn. The Obidient effect has taken over and so much is propping up. What is Obidients? What are the factors responsible for the rise in the Obidients movement? What are the implications of this movement in the dynamics of our political firmament come 2023 presidential elections? Is the much talked about 3rd force upon us? Are Nigerians finally waking up to an alternative to the behemoth same APC PDP conjecture? A critical analysis would suffice.

The Obidients phenomenon is a movement orchestrated by the people, and for the people of Nigeria. It is a bottom – up approach that is sending shivers down the spine of the analogue old-style political class/elites. They are worried scared at the momentum of the current Obi-volution sweeping across the land. Unlike the old normal, the Obidient movement is organic, people driven and not money induced. Its principal, Mr Peter Obi has not dropped ‘shishi’ to facilitate the groundswell of support by the ordinary Nigerian people. The mantra of the movement – ‘We nor dey give shishi’ is very loud and clear. The bravado, confidence, and creativity with which Obidients are churning out messages on both social media and on ground is breath-taking. The messages are so germane, that many are wondering if the other Presidential candidates are still in the race. The moribund silence from the other two camps is like a graveyard.

The Obidient movement is driven by a critical mass of Nigeria’s Youths, Professionals, Students, and media influencers. The huge mass of this demographic is those who were in their nursery age pre-1999 and those born early post-1999. For this core of Nigerians (unlike my generation) all they have known is democracy or civil rule. Many of them have no memory of a Military President/Head of State, Military Governor, or Administrator in uniform. These young people have lived all their lives seeing democracy/civil rule albeit not in its proper form or shape. They have seen all the sufferings and hardships their parents go through daily raising them. Now they want a change for a better life. They want a change in the status quo which Peter Obi represents and brings to the table in abundance. This generation has got all the engine to take back Nigeria from the current political hawks bleeding our commonwealth. This generation are tech savvy, smart, energetic, and innovative. They can see what obtains in other climes and want same replicated at home. No doubt they are going for the jugulars come the February 2023 presidential election. The old, recycled politicians are in for a rude awakening. The thermodynamics of the Nigerian polity is being agitated at the speed of youth – E go shock them!

The implications of the Obidients movement in our democratic firmament is going to be sweeping. Mr Obidients, Peter Obi, a grand patron of the National Association of Stinginess (NAS) is frugal, and prudent in resource management. He is a man allergic to reckless money spending (be it government or personal). Stinginess is engraved in his DNA and no wonder he does not give ‘shishi’. The unique selling proposition, USP of the Peter Obi candidacy is his simplicity, antecedents, track record of public service, honesty, transparency, integrity, sense of purpose, clear message, connectivity to the people and can-do disposition.

In Peter Gregory Obi, the ordinary or average Nigerian sees one of their own. A man although highly endowed financially understands and is able to feel their pains both in his words, and body language. Everyday Nigerians can relate to him. Nigerians believe his words. Nigerians can feel him. Peter Obi does not mince his words. His beautiful symphony, “to move our country from a consumption to a production nation” resonates like a cymbal. No wonder this clamour is encapsulated in the trending song, “carry me dey go, Peter Obi carry me dey go for a better naija” which is ruling the airwaves and landscape. The Obidients movement has brought a new vibe and vigour to our politics. Nigerians can dream again. The apathy hitherto has been jettisoned. We the Nigerian people are now solidly primed, to distil our civic responsibility from every democratic contaminant previously present and take back our country obidiently.

Nigerians are neither naïve to think this distillation process will be a whizz in the park nor a mind revolution without a price. Rather, there is a growing critical mass, determined to take on the challenge to fight for the very soul of our Nation.  Alas, it must be clear to the old brigade that the suffering people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have seen a candidate they can connect with, relate to and trust. If you are one of those who think Nigeria is fine the way it is right now, then, you can make the easy choice to chill and do nothing. If on the flip side, you desire a better Nigeria for yourself, your children and generation yet unborn then the time to take on the tough and narrow road that leads to OBIdiency is now.  Go get your PVC. It is our weapon of mass emancipation from poverty, corruption, underdevelopment, unemployment, insecurity, bad governance, hunger, and frustration that our country has become. The time to awake and reset our country is NOW!  Are you OBIdient? A New “Awoke” Nigeria is Possible…

Dr Agbons is founder of the Institute of Good Governance @www.twin2.org