Opening Remark: Without Peter Obi in the 2023 Presidential Election, there wouldn’t have been a Tinubu Presidency. But do Tinubu supporters realize this?

More often than not, you hear some people blaming Peter Obi for contesting the 2023 presidential election; and by so doing, divided opposition and denied Atiku of victory.

Well, you cannot blame people who hold the above view because they have right to think what they want and to speak in favour of what think would have best served their interest.

But contrary to the people who think Obi was wrong to have contested the election, I think Obi was right to have participated and his participation was justified in all ramification, strategy and calculation. I’ll tell you why.

The 2023 Presidential Election was existential to three set of people. First, to southern Nigerians, second, to Southeastern Nigerians and lastly, to Nigerian Christians.

The election was existential to Southern Nigerians because there was a threat of the transition of power from one northerner to another northerner, i.e Atiku trying to succeed Buhari. I am not sure a lot of southerners understood the danger that that portended which was why they were supporting Atiku. The implication is that, had Atiku succeeded, the north would felt the have gotten the magic and formula to perpetuate themselves in power for as long as possible. I don’t think you understand me. Let me explain further. Atiku’s argument for contesting was that no one else can win the election for PDP except himself. And that PDP should rather think about winning election than following Party’s constitution on zoning. Had he won, in 8 years, another northerner, possibly Kwankwaso, will jump into APC and proffer same argument that only he can win election against PDP’s southern candidate - PDP would wanna go south after Atiku. Then he, the APC candidate, will probably go into alliance with Southwest again to dislodge the PDP candidate who is most likely going to come from either Southsouth or Southeast. The northern APC candidate is most likely to succeed. Then after his own 8 years, another northerner would have jumped into PDP to convince them that only a northerner can wrestle power from APC’s likely Southwest candidate. And that’s how the cycle would have continued. Atiku failed in this mission only because Obi pulled away from PDP and thereby put a wedge on that mission

Similarly, the election was existential to people of Southeast because after 8 years of Buhari’s southeast-excluding administration, it was imperative and existential that Igbos and southeasterners supported one of their own or a friend of theirs to power so they don’t suffer same fate they suffered under Buhari for another 8 years. Atiku knew this sentiment and that was what he wanted to capitalize on before Peter Obi pulled the rug off his feet. But takeaway Peter Obi and the Southeast and Southsouth would have voted Atiku. You might argue that the turnout may have been lesser but I still would have been enough to cover up Tinubu’s less than 2million vote difference.

Lastly, the 2023 presidential election was existential to Nigerian Christians who were not comfortable in having a transition from a Muslim president to another Muslim president. But was their fear misplaced? No. St. Augustine of Hippo who is regarded as one of the (Catholic) Church Fathers was the Catholic Bishop of Carthage in present day Tunisia. Then Tunisia was a Christian territory but today Tunisia is a Muslim country. Turkey is the birth place of Mary Mother of Jesus. But Turkey is a Muslim Country today. All these were through forced conversion. So, knowing histories like this, one would not blame Christians when they express some misgivings about the religious dimensions of some happenings in our society and political space. Our only solace is that the man who presently holds sway has never shown himself to be a religious fundamentalist.

Now, having background of the above, you would better appreciate it when you hear someone blame Obi for contesting the election.

You might want to find out if he’s a northern hegemonist who wanted power transitioned from a northerner to another northerner, or southeasterner who would have preferred a friend of Ndigbo in power even if the future implication of such occurrence was going to be dire (some people do not think beyond the now though), or is the person a Christian who would have preferred a balanced ticket winning the election and therefore blames Obi for causing the emergence of a Muslim Muslim presidency.

But if you ask me, I would tell you that of all the existentialisms that existed before the election, the one that was most essential was the existential threat that a transition from a northerner to another northerner would have portended to the generality of Southern Nigerians. I say this because since the Southeast is a microcosm of the macrocosm that is Southern Nigeria, it can sacrifice its subjective interest for the objective and altruistic interest of the entire south. In the end, what the Southeast is yearning for is the same thing that the entire south is yearning for - a restructured Nigeria, a Nigeria based on merit and not quota system, the addressing of the obvious imbalances that exists in the Nigerian polity which were designed to favour a particular section of the country, etc. If a southern President (irrespective of where he’s from) achieves this, the demands of the southeast must have been addressed by half or more.

Some people say why did Obi contest when he knew the odds were against him and that he cannot win, and I ask, were the odds really against him?

Obi was in pole position of winning 3 regions of Southeast, Southsouth and North Central. He was going to come close second in Southwest, and try to put up considerable outing in Northwest and Northeast which would have been enough to give him victory.

Believe me, the outcome of the election followed that trajectory but like Josef Stalin said, “those who cast the votes decide nothing; those who count the votes decide everything”, those who counted the votes decided what they wanted and now we must leave the courts to review what was done.

But in the meantime, my verdict is that Obi was not wrong to have participated in the 2023 presidential election. Even if the result of that choice is a Tinubu presidency, I believe that is better than having a northerner succeed another northerner at the presidency.

Now, the north has been taught a valuable lesson - that they can’t do without the south and now every section of this country must respect the conventional zoning arrangement that ensures that every section of this country feels that they are part of the project that is called Nigeria.

Penguin is a bird of reason!!!

The most important thing is that

Asiwaju is the President

And he will rule The Federal Republic Of Nigeria till 2031 when he will handover to a Northerner who will be an APC member

Pandora and his Fulani Master will never become the President Of Nigeria

Well many of us appreciate him tu lie for contesting. If not for his greed maybe the peoples president, PBAT wouldn't be where he is today. And then maybe the newer generations i mean the indomies, the 2000s wouldn't understand and realize why Nigerians have failed to vote in yeeeeeeebo president since 19993 or boya maybe since 1999. Thanks to Him tu lie.

If his goal was simply to become president of Nigeria one day then you can argue he made the wrong choice.

But Obi is an idealist and he sensed the pulse of the nation, particularly in the south and middle belt. And he did spectacularly well. He’s still in court fighting his case so let’s see how that goes too.

Either way he is playing a huge role because thanks to him the current president has a very weak mandate and is forced to perform unlike his incompetent predecessor who’s strong mandate made him arrogant in his ineptitude.

Far too long to read I'm afraid. But someone answered your question. See below, and wegevv immediately above.

Parachoco:
The most important thing is that

Asiwaju is the President

And he will rule The Federal Republic Of Nigeria till 2031 when he will handover to a Northerner who will be an APC member

Pandora and his Fulani Master will never become the President Of Nigeria

Are you guys incapable of logic or is this what you could deduce from what is up there?

Without Pandora Obituary on the ballot and the combination of Atiku and Wike would have given PDP a very easy ride


Obituary deserve our sympathy bcs he was instrumental to our victory


But I hate his religious divisive strategy which would have lead to religious war

PO is my President

The problem is not obi but a satanic, cursed, demonic political party that found itself in Power by accident and is on its way to finishing Nigeria.

How can we explain an impostor, personifier, kleptomaniac, murderer, drug pusher,thief being sworn in as the president of Nigeria

Nothing wrong in trying your luck

But anyway trying his luck was against Atiku and somehow help Emilokan to win

APC sûppôrters always appreciate Obi for his participation.
By the way, we all know Obi was never going to win North Central, he was likely going to win christian dominated states in the North which includes states from North East and Southern Kaduna, aside those, you know he never stood a chance in the North.

wegevv:
If his goal was simply to become president of Nigeria one day then you can argue he made the wrong choice.

But Obi is an idealist and he sensed the pulse of the nation, particularly in the south and middle belt. And he did spectacularly well. He’s still in court fighting his case so let’s see how that goes too.

Either way he is playing a huge role because thanks to him the current president has a very weak mandate and is forced to perform unlike his incompetent predecessor who’s strong mandate made him arrogant in his ineptitude.

People who voted the president voted him because we needed someone to perform, we trusted him to perform that's why we voted him, so don't bend the story that he is or will perform because of the Iósèrs.

He has 100% free will to run, and I am happy he did. He did a good job by helping APC defeat mighty PDP.

Ola9ja23:
Without Pandora Obituary on the ballot and the combination of Atiku and Wike would have given PDP a very easy ride


Obituary deserve our sympathy bcs he was instrumental to our victory


But I hate his religious divisive strategy which would have lead to religious war

Yes ooo.

Peter Obi contesting for President brought about the dawn of the subconscious popular slogan "I will waste my vote". I didn't understand it was a mindset of already accepting loss long before the election day.

See the OP trying to change the narrative as if say we dey suffer from short memory. We will never forget that the easterners wanted Obi of LP and if he can’t win, they will be fine with Atiku winning as long as it’s not BAT. Now see as he dey change the narrative wey never reach one year say If Obi no win then they will be happy with BAT. They were operating from a tribal sentiment and that a northerner handing over to another northerner was never a concern to them. In fact, it was the batist that were concerned about this.

Obidients have never been a sincere group and it was easy for me to see through their drama. Batists are more sincere, they know their man no get too good a record and dem no polish am up, instead their selling point was on BAT past record of performance but what do we say bout the obidients(kettle calling pot black)

Penguin is a bird of myopic reasoning..

Oga decamp with your full chest and stop playing bacarnista tony..

You were all warned .. a vote for Obi is an advantage to tinubu Apc..
op in particular damed it .. only to write English

Nairaland kids

As a Nigerian, Obi was never wrong to contest and will never be. If anybody was wrong to contest, though on morality ground, it has to be the northerners, Atiku (and perhaps, kwankwaso) based on existential arrangement i.e zoning between South and North.

However, a part of your argument that it is the turn of the Christian, South and southeast, made me realize people like you are why Obi lost and will likely lose future elections.
Are Muslims from the south not Nigerians enough to be presidents? Are Christians in the North not human beings? Religion is not part of our mix. It's just a tool Politicians adopt to maneuver and gain cheap control over the minds of gullible electorates.
May be Obi would have won a direct electoral contest against Tinubu. May be! But the question is- after all that southeast has invested in PDP, why is Atiku not wrong to take the turn of the Southeast in PDP but Tinubu was demonized to the pit of hell for pursuing his legitimate ambition within APC where he has waited patiently and invested all his resources?

In fact, If you dig my past comments, hereon, you will see where I said the next president must come from the south but I disagree with mocrozoning to any specific sub-region because I, personally hate bigotry and extremism. Nigeria needs a nationalist as president not an ethnic opportunist or a quota system beneficiary. No president can emerge in Nigeria with such luck - Not even the popular Buhari of the almighty Northern hegemony. He failed on multiple attempts! Hence, the Buhari-Tinubu alliance of 2015.
If Obi (and/or anyother Ibo politicians in PDP) had succeeded in winning the PDP presidential tickets to their region, I may have voted for him/them. But I perished that idea immediately after seeing what the Ibos were doing to Tinubu but couldn't look Atiku in his face. And for that, I will continue to respect Wike- for challenging his audacity.

Finally, I am above all, happy for the twists in our political trajectories and space- including the legal fireworks and multiplicity of oppositions and how it will likely provoke some necessary development and change we all seek as a Nation. The President has no breathing space hence, he must explore all avenues to assuage and heal the sufferings of all and the angst of some.


PS: I advise that the Ibos need more bridgebuilding especially with the Yorubas and southsouth to form an invincible south that can effect the needed change to birth a new and better Nigeria.

Peace.

For me, I will always be grateful to Peter Obi for being a genuine third way in Nigerian politics in these elections.

With these elections, we as Nigerians have made incredible strides and I was pleasantly surprised seeing results come in. Tinubu losing in Lagos, PDP winning in Osun, Tinubu beating Atiku in the North and winning Rivers. Obi winning in Edo ad Abuja.

Overwhelming Peter Obi victories in the South East were quite dissapointing but you can't have it all.

Sadly however, thanks to those toxic Obidients, all the gains from the elections have dissappeared into thin air. Obidients have successfully turned Peter Obi into an Igbò project.

If the elections were nullified and held again, Obi is coming an even more distant third and worse still, we would be back under the APC and PDP choke hold.

What a shame. 2 steps forward and three steps back. Obidients una well done ó.

Penguin2

This kind lamentation is called buyer's remorse.

My brother, pele o.

Opening Remark: Without Peter Obi in the 2023 Presidential Election, there wouldn’t have been a Tinubu Presidency. But do Tinubu supporters realize this?

What are you talking about?
The North supported Tinubu not Atiku. Go and look at the results again before you post your IPOB post on Nairaland.

There's nothing you've said here that we didn't say before the election

Self consolation built on fallacies, upon the final realization of Obi’s non-existent mandate.

Penguin2:
Now, the north has been taught a valuable lesson - that they can’t do without the south and now every section of this country must respect the conventional zoning arrangement that ensures that every section of this country feels that they are part of the project that is called Nigeria.

The North was not taught any lesson, you’re pretending to forget that our Northern governors willfully conceded the Presidential ticket to the South, which makes Tinubu’s Presidency a fulfilled agenda.

We were deliberate and intentional about a Tinubu Presidency for two main reasons:

1. The existence of Nigeria as it is. If we had backed a north-north Presidential transition, more southerners would be disillusioned at the concept of “one Nigeria” and would be drawn the ‘gospel’ of burgeoning secessionist forces. IPOB and Oduduwa agitators would have hijacked the sentiment of discontent for their agenda.

2. We knew Atiku neither had capacity nor track record of performance & was only an opportunistic, corrupt politician that couldn’t provide the kind of progressive governance that Nigeria sorely needs. Now we are in pole position for 2031 Presidency and have earned the trust/loyalty of our SW allies who have pledged to reciprocate in due course.

If it was the north’s intention to retain power, we would have voted en-bloc for PDP and the 2 million votes lead Tinubu enjoyed would have been non-existent and Atiku would have won the election.

In raw numbers crunched by TheCable Index, Tinubu beat Atiku in the north-west, scoring 2,652,824 votes compared to his opponent’s 2,197,824. Not only were Atiku’s margins in some of the states narrow, Tinubu took a whopping half a million votes in Kano alone.
In fact, Tinubu got 30 percent of his total votes from the north-west alone. That is almost one-third.

Another fallacy is the notion that Obi had any chance to win the North Central. That is a notion that existed solely in the heads of typically politically naive obidients that didn’t realize that Niger, Kogi and Kwara are part of their presumed NC/middle belt, and would always vote alongside the NW. The remaining 3 NC states would always be split across parties. Obi didn’t stand a chance in the NC from the word go.

Furthermore, due to his affiliation & sympathies for IPOB terrorists that he never failed to defend, Obi didn’t stand any chance in the NW & NE either. Ever wondered why he had no choice but to appoint fellow Igbos as Campaign coordinators in core Northern states like Sokoto etc.?

The only region that has been taught and re-taught an important existential lesson is the South East; that any candidate can do without S/Eastern votes and still successfully emerge President. In fact going forward, Presidential candidates might consider Eastern campaigns as an avoidable, unnecessary expense.

This has been proven TWICE by a Northerner (PMB) and now a THIRD time by a fellow Southerner…. and an added lesson about the futility of “nzogbu-nzogbu” politics; that it’s impossible to win Presidential elections without building bridges across the country, as some Obidients erroneously thought before the polls.

While I am not a fan of Obi, and do not think him fit to be President, I think all pragmatic Nigerians who wish our nation well should thank him for denying PDP the votes that would have seen Atiku emerge President.

Nigerians have short memory but the Northern plots, spearheaded in APC and PDP, to deny a strong and independent minded Southerner becoming President was well organised, well supported and desperate.

We saw this with APC with the way Buhari and his Northern supremacist were happy and willing to destroy their own Party to stop Tinubu emerging the Party's candidate.

Beginning from their deliberate effort to divide and sabotage APC as far back as the needless and totally suicidal self-destructive actions that made the Party lose Edo State.

So much happened in the APC that showed some Northerners have no interest in being loyal to the integrity and efficacy of Political Parties.

Emefiele was even encouraged to attempt to be President in all the confusion and madness Buhari and his crew caused.

The incoherent joke Buhari made the APC saw so many buy Primaries ticket in a shambolic horsetrading charade that indicated factions in the APC were trying to outsmart themselves.

Hardly will you see Political Parties run this disracefully and shambolically anywhere else in the world, let along a ruling Party, but this was what Buhari and his Northern hawks caused because they could not accept that their time is over and that the strongest from the South had the right to contest and win.

PDP was no different with the arrogance and power-drunkeness of Atiku supported by the machinations of Tambuwal etal.

Long and short, the North was desperate to retain power directly, through a PDP Atiku win , or indirectly through a Southern stooge, like Emefiele, as the APC President.

It would have been a disaster and Nigeria will surely not survive a Northern Presidency since Buhari had totally destroyed the nation (security, economy, badly divided citizens etal) and another Northerner, because most mainly only play Conservative, illiberal, non-progressive and expedient politics, would see us finished.

I therefore thank Obi. I believe he saved Nigeria in his own way and God or Karma used him to ensure our nation qas not conceded into hands that would see her fall into the abyss when some had already taken her to the edge of the cliff.

The last 8 years reminded most Nigerians, painfully, that the North is not into developmental politics.
.

Grayoso:
While I am not a fan of Obi, and do not think him fit to be President, I think all pragmatic Nigerians who wish our nation well should thank him for denying PDP the votes that would have seen Atiku emerge President.

Nigerians have short memory but the Northern plots, spearheaded in APC and PDP, to deny a strong and independent minded Southerner becoming President was well organised, well supported and desperate.

We saw this with APC with the way Buhari and his Northern supremacist were happy and willing to destroy their own Party to stop Tinubu emerging the Party's candidate.

Beginning from their deliberate effort to divide and sabotage APC as far back as the needless and totally suicidal self-destructive actions that made the Party lose Edo State.

So much happened in the APC that showed some Northerners have no interest in being loyal to the integrity and efficacy of Political Parties.

Emefiele was even encouraged to attempt to be President in all the confusion and madness Buhari and his crew caused.

The incoherent joke Buhari made the APC saw so many buy Primaries ticket in a shambolic horsetrading charade that indicated factions in the APC were trying to outsmart themselves.

Hardly will you see Political Parties run this disracefully and shambolically anywhere else in the world, let along a ruling Party, but this was what Buhari and his Northern hawks caused because they could not accept that their time is over and that the strongest from the South had the right to contest and win.

PDP was no different with the arrogance and power-drunkeness of Atiku supported by the machinations of Tambuwal etal.

Long and short, the North was desperate to retain power directly, through a PDP Atiku win , or indirectly through a Southern stooge, like Emefiele, as the APC President.

It would have been a disaster and Nigeria will surely not survive a Northern Presidency since Buhari had totally destroyed the nation (security, economy, badly divided citizens etal) and another Northerner, because most mainly only play Conservative, illiberal, non-progressive and expedient politics, would see us finished.


The last 8 years reminded most Nigerians, painfully, that the North is not into developmental politics.
.

You’re making false conclusions based on the selfish and desperate antics of Buhari’s cabal.

Did you ever imagine El-Rufai ever standing up to directly oppose PMB like he did during the Naira re-design crisis?

Why do you think that was ?

Of course because it was clear to the discerning that all that nonsense were the antics of the Aso Villa cabal and NOT the collective desire of the North which already had taken a collective position on Tinubu’s emergence, which was also indisputably backed up with concrete winning votes.

Akungitit:
What are you talking about?
The North supported Tinubu not Atiku. Go and look at the results again before you post your IPOB post on Nairaland.

Don’t mind them.

They are attempting to change the narrative to make it look like Tinubu’s emergence wasn’t the desire of the North, but numbers don’t lie

I really laugh when people say it was Obi who made Tinubu President, that if Obi had not run, Atiku would have won

Lets understand something, Tinubu is President today because some people voted for him. Despite the disastrous 8 year rule of APC, some people still chose to return that party to power

In more civilised democracies, if a party performs that badly in office, they wont even get a second term to even talk of doing 8 years and getting re-elected

Also, Atiku failed to clear his power base, the North. Had he done that, Tinubu would have stood no chance of winning.

So its not Obi's fault that Tinubu won, Tinubu won because some people voted for him

christejames:
PO is my President

In fantasy island.

When you wake up, you will find out that Tinubu is your president and he will rule you and your father for eight years

@ op, when would you move on from wallowing in election loss?

If Atiku was a reasonable candidate, then the logic being shared on this page would have been sensible.

For everyone saying "OBI's decision to contest lost ATIKU the presidency", what exactly would OBI or the Obidients who simply want good governance have gained from an ATIKU presidency?... a useless vice presidency which we all know is as useless as a councillorship position?...

The other day some unfortunate fellow claimed "OBI at least would have gotten contracts" had Atiku won and I was beyond disgusted; apparently these cretins think OBI and the Obidients were in the contest for contracts and money.

At the end, the folks spreading this silly narrative that OBI made a mistake contesting are either hungry disgruntled PDP/Atiku minions, or just foolish Tinubu supporters who want to mock Obidients (cos I dont see how it concerns the BATists that Atiku lost the election). In both cases, these group of people appear to be too dumb to realise the essence of the Obidient movement which was just a call for good and responsible governance.