Peter Obi and the Demographics of Nigerian Politics

Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the dysfunctional Labour Party (LP) and his "Obidients" are currently the most popular Nigerians on the internet and many of the "Obidients" have become cyber bullies on Twitter, Facebook and Nairaland attacking and insulting the presidential candidates of the other political parties in some of the worst derogatory terms of vitriol, including libellous defamation of the character of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, presidential candidate of the national ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC).

Majority of the "Obidients" are ignorant of the nuances of intellectual discourse and ignorant of the intricacies of ethnicity in the demographics of Nigerian politics since the Independence of Nigeria on October 1, 1960 from the colonial rule of the British Empire and the consequences which caused the first Nigerian civil war between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the secessionists Republic of Biafra in the south eastern region of the Igbo tribe from 1967-1970. Majority of the "Obidients" were born after the gruesome war.

The majority of the Igbo youths have become passionate about the restoration of Biafra as an independent sovereignty and joined the vanguard of the secessionist groups of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and IndigenousPeople of Biafra (IPOB), because they believe the Igbo tribe will be better and greater as an independent nation. Since the civil war, nobody of the Igbo tribe has become the Head of State of Nigeria either in the military regimes or civilian administrations. They have accused the political leadership of the country by the Hausas, Fulanis and Yorubas of deliberately disallowing the Igbos from the leadership of the executive arm of the government of Nigeria.  Both the past national ruling party, People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the present national ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) have only chosen Yoruba and Hausa Fulani presidential candidates who became elected Presidents of Nigeria, except only Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who succeeded the late President Umaru Yar'Adua as acting President from  February 9, 2010 –  May 5, 2010 and duly elected President in the 2011 presidential election, the first person from the south-south region to become the President and Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria until he was defeated in the 2015 presidential election by retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC.

Majority of the Igbo voters voted for Jonathan, because of their ethnic relationship with his own ethnic group of the Ijaw tribe.

To majority of the Igbos, Peter Obi can become attractive to majority of the voters of Ijaw tribe and the rest of the ethnic groups in the south-south region. But they have Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyichukwu Arthur Okowa who is Ika Igbo as the running mate of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the PDP who they will prefer to see as the Vice President of Nigeria if they win the 2023 presidential election. 

The fact is majority of non-Igbos will not vote for Peter Obi to be elected as the President of Nigeria, because due to ingrained ethnic malice and prejudice, they don't like the Igbos who actually maltreated them during the civil war and are their political rivals in the leadership of Nigeria. 

There are over 370 ethnic groups and over 500 languages in the country. The major ethnic groups are: Hausa (25%) Yoruba (21%) Ijaw (1.8%) Igbo (18%) Ibibio (3.5%) Tiv (2.4%) Fulani (6%) Kanuri (3%) Others (19.3%).

Without the support of the majority of the non-Igbo tribes and ethnic groups, Peter Obi cannot win the presidential election in 2023.

Who is Qualified To Be the Next President of NIgeria?

Who is Qualified To Be the Next President of NIgeria?

I have more than 30 years experience in working for the presidential campaigns of top presidential aspirants in the political ruling class of NIgeria.
I was a special aide in the Publicity Department of the Presidential Campaign of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, CON for the National Republican Convention (NRC) in 1990-1992. He later became the President of the Africa Business Roundtable in 2012 and was National Chairman of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) from March 2012 to January 2014.
I was one of the brains behind the social media campaign of the Transform NIgeria Network for former President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR in 2014.

I have done a comprehensive political evaluation of all the potential presidential aspirants for the 2023 presidential election, and the only presidential aspirant who can tackle the widespread insecurity in NIgeria is former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, GCON.

Only a fearless strong Commander-in- Chief can command the Nigerian Armed Forces to guarantee the national security of NIgerians.
Boko Haram and ISWAP are on rampage in the country, because President Muhammadu Buhari has failed to be a competent Commander-in-Chief and he is overwhelmed by the failures of the NIgerian military to defeat the bandits and terrorists who have killed over 300, 000 people with over 2, 000, 000 people left homeless and abandoned in the IDPs' camps in the worst humanitarian crisis since the first NIgerian civil war of 1967-1970.

The other presidential aspirants don't have the political pragmatism of visionary leadership and competence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was the Vice President of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for eight years and they subdued every threat of terrorism and secured the lives and properties of NIgerians in every state of the federation.

I don't have to mention the shortcomings of the other presidential aspirants, because they are not capable of the political leadership of NIgeria in such a critical period of political crisis and national insecurity. They are too weak to be a powerful Commander-in-Chief.

Rigging gubernatorial elections to become state governors and turning the Treasury of the State to your ATM machine does not make you a competent presidential candidate when you should actually be in jail for corruption without any plea bargain.
What we need is a powerful Commander-in-Chief and not a wonderful thief of public funds from the revenues of your state.

President Jonathan, Invasion of High Court in Anambra

President Jonathan, the recent invasion of a sacred place like the Courthouse require your direct response

Sir, you and members of your executive council, the ministers in particular probably heard of the recent invasion by some offenders who stormed a High Court of Justice in an area of Anambra State, Nigeria.

Sir, as you know the court is one of the most sacred sites among public institutions where ordinary people, and persons of means go to in search of justice, protection or freedom.

In a society that deems itself as an emerging democracy , there is a deep , long and principled tradition of viewing the judiciary and its courts as sacred grounds of judgment which requires utmost protection at every second, minute, and hour.
Yet, this court in question at a time when it was in session would become adulterated by these invaders who picketed the court grounds and openly removed case files , court documents and even vandalized, as well as remove the presiding judge’s personal and official effects as well as other essentials.

Sir, it was also reported that the presiding judge’s panic call to the police received no immediate response, and worst of all, was the report that the invaders acted in the presence of the police, and that the police let go one of the invaders who had been held by a court staff.

Sir, you will agree that this is a disturbing trend as the courthouse terror, violence or thievery frightens not just the justices, judges and magistrates but the faith of the people in the courts become almost erased.
Sir, this puts the country’s already shaky democracy on delicate ground which is further compounded by the current scary political atmosphere across various regions in the nation.

Sir, you and your executive council must save the people from this type of public barbarity, and you Sir should come out publicly and for many very good reasons, personally condemn these heinous acts and assure the protection of the Court officials and documents. Please do this for God’s sake.

Sir, you must push hard against all forms of judicial-laced barbaric or evil inflicts on our young democracy. Doing this head on, through loud voice and outcry will send words of defeat against those that terrorize the courts. Also, potential invaders of the courts will learn a hard lesson, and outrageous acts from bad police officers will be stifled.

Sir, while you have not openly and vigorously supported a state police system which this writer and many others have called for , it is time for you to use executive order to put in place an exclusive body of court police and security agents around the courts and those that serve in the judiciary.

~ By John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D , DABPS, FACFE, is a Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu