By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

Mr. Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Party (NDC), is an iconic and charismatic Nigerian politician, who is well-known and liked by a great number of Nigerians. Obi, who served as the governor of Anambra state between 2006 and 2014, reclaimed his stolen governorship political mandate through judicial means. He is the first Nigerian politician to achieve that political feat in our country’s political annals. And he was the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 Nigeria’s presidential election.

Before he finally berthed on the political shores of NDC, he had been a member of APGA, from which he migrated to Labour Party. And when Labour Party was embroiled in crisis, he left for ADC to keep his presidential ambition alive. Seeing that moles had infiltrated ADC and plots were being woven to deny him the party’s presidential ticket, he defected to NDC.

However, before Mr. Peter Obi joined NDC, the party was in a near catatonic state. Then, it was a relatively unknown political party, which throve on the margins of Nigeria’s political space. The fact is that the party existed in name, then. But Obi’s entrance into the party revived it from its state of latency and inertia. In fact, it owes its rise from a state of inertia and obscurity to becoming a major opposition political party in Nigeria to Obi’s defection to it.

Mr. Peter Obi, we all know, is very popular with millions of Nigerians, who belong to different age demographics. His popularity is hinged, partly, on his leadership achievements. As the governor of Anambra state, he revamped the state’s health and educational sectors, and constructed new roads in the state. And to his credit, he cleared the backlog of pension and gratuity arrears owed to those who worked in the state’s civil service in the past.

Again, Mr. Peter Obi is known and well-liked for his possession of the virtue of probity. Since his exit from office as the Anambra state governor, the EFCC has failed to discover any financial misdemeanor linked to him for which he will stand trial. Yet, he had been thoroughly investigated; and his academic credentials well scrutinized. And nothing that could besmirch his reputation was found. That is why he is referred to as the island of integrity.

Besides being a man of proven probity, he has political and economic ideologies. That is why he always joins in the discourses regarding matters affecting Nigeria, which range from our stagnated economy to the security challenges hobbling our country. He has formulated policies, which will be executed to address our country’s multifarious problems if he becomes the president of Nigeria. And he carries on as though he was Nigeria’s president-in waiting.

Today, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi is one of the most popular politicians in Nigeria. Not unexpectedly, the number of NDC members rose astronomically and exponentially upon his entrance into the party. A great number of politicians defected to NDC so as to ride on the crest and popularity of Mr. Peter Obi to win their electoral battles. In 2023, many politicians got elected into exalted political posts because they belonged to the same political party, the Labour Party, as Mr. Peter Obi belonged, then. Those elections were a walk in the park for them.

Unfortunately, those politicians still hold the belief that the Nigerian electorate(s) are not politically savvy, sophisticated, and knowledgeable. Based on this supposition, the NDC candidates believe that the Nigerian voters will cast their votes for them without scrutinizing their personalities, political antecedents, and past leadership scorecards. Their assumption is that their membership of NDC is an open sesame for their winning electoral battles as Mr. Peter Obi, the poster boy of NDC, is well-liked by the Nigerian masses.

But will what happened in the 2023 general election recur in the 2027 general election, too? Over the years, our political culture has evolved and metamorphosed, fundamentally. Now, Nigerians don’t set store with party loyalty, anymore. That is why Nyesom Wike, a PDP stalwart, is leading the campaign for President Tinubu’s reelection. Tinubu and Wike belong to two different political parties. And Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state; and Prof. Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra state, who belong to Accord Party and APGA, respectively, are working for the reelection of President Tinubu of APC as the president of Nigeria.

But let us return to NDC. Now, NDC is a party of political strange bedfellows. Like other political parties in Nigeria, the members of NDC do not abide by a common political ideology. And they see their party as a vehicle, which they will board to reach their respective political destinations.

As a result, Mr. Peter Obi, a patriot working for the birth of a new and better Nigeria, is yoked with the wreckers of our country’s financial tills in the NDC. And Mr. Peter Obi, who does not subscribe to the politics of violence and the subversion of the people’s political will, is in the same political party as the big political thugs and inverterate riggers of elections in Nigeria are.

If Mr. Peter Obi wins the 2027 presidential election, he will surely part ways with many of his party members because they and he do not share a common vision for Nigeria. While their eyes are trained on our common exchequer, Mr. Peter Obi wants the remaking of Nigeria and the upturning of our country’s egregious status quo ante.

But whether NDC wins the 2027 presidential election or not, one thing is certain: the party will implode in the same way as PDP did because it is a party of strange political bedfellows.

•Chiedu Uche Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State. He can be reached via 08062220654 and 09125204141