By Mercy IyeneAbasi Etim
We all know that Peter Obi is only using the Labour Party as a special purpose vehicle to further his political ambitions and doesn’t care about the party.
Being a serial cross-carpeter and a politician who likes to pitch two opposing sides against each other, using Anambra Anglican and Catholic as case studies, this is not news to anyone.
Obi has successfully owned the Obidient Movement, telling them who to support / attack and who not to. Like Atiku, an “opposition” Peter Obi has made a habit of shielding at all cost.
The former Anambra lacklustre governor has personally handled the millions of donations and has made sure that the Labour Party, the party he is using their platform does not benefit from Obidients.
Forget money, Peter Obi scarcely goes out of his way to throw his weight and influence on Labour Party candidates during elections. In fact, in Rivers State, he threw his own party under the bus while begging Wike for support.
He refused to acknowledge the Labour Party candidate in Oyo State during the governorship campaign and he is now distancing himself from Olumide Apata, who is the flag bearer of the Labour Party in the upcoming governorship election in Edo State.
Only the undiscerning are unaware of why Peter Obi does this.
Remember that only two minutes ago, he was in the PDP and Atiku’s running mate. In fact, he was prepping for 2023 in hopes that Atiku, his “elder brother” would pick him again. Or alternatively, planning to run as president if PDP had not gone against their own constitution of giving the ticket to a Southerner.
As the PDP and Atiku started having ideas, Peter Obi, a smart politician saw that he couldn’t get the VeePee slot as he did the previous election.
So, overnight, he bought the Labour Party leadership with his billions, hushed up dissenting voices and used them as a platform for his presidential aspirations.
Unwittingly and quite interestingly I might add, the Obidient movement was born and gained quite a momentum even Peter Obi had not envisaged, birthing the Third Force. Something that the PDP never forecasted. This would go on to haunt them as this eventually changed the trajectory of the election and boosted the chances of the APC, the party that eventually won the election. I might add that, this is something Obidients stubbornly refused to see until it was too late
So instead of one major opposition like we have had in the past, the opposition was divided into six factions and you need to be smoking weed if you didn’t foresee this outcome. But we digress.
Today, the Labour Party has rightly realized that the best thing to do at this point would be to consolidate the Obidient movement and turn it into a political structure. (A serious party needs to do better than a failed strategy of “top to bottom” only in Lagos State and on sleep mode everywhere else)
The Labour Party thought and decided that since they have given Peter Obi their platform, they might as well build on it. And to that effect, they created a directorate of Obidients Affairs to mobilize Obidient supporters to be committed party members thereby building a formidable party structure
Little did they know that Peter Obi is a toddler unwilling to share.
Almost instantaneously, Peter Obi in his true selfish elements has told them to wake up and smell the coffee. He promptly dismissed the idea, kicking against his own political party leadership.
In summary, He will never share the Obidient Movement, The Obidients are his to use, benefit from, cash out from and control.
To Peter Obi, the Obidients is a political tool he wields as he pleases and plans to use when he goes back to PDP in 2027.
About what he will tell Obidients when he moves back to “structure of criminality”? Trust me that man knows his fellow childish mob.