On July 19, when Peter Gregory Obi turned 64, his birthday was not marked by a very important persons-only gathering in an exclusive location, where the most expensive food and wines are served to the ‘who’s who’ in Nigeria and the cutting of a life-sized cake by the celebrant. This is typical of Obi and consistent with his longstanding principle of modesty, frugality and decorum that has characterised his public and private conduct since he came to national limelight in 2003 when he contested for the office of the governor of Anambra State. On the contrary, Obi’s birthday was celebrated across Nigeria by his army of supporters, known as the Obidients, in a carnival-like street procession.
From the streets of Sokoto to the avenues of Lagos and the boulevards of Warri and Port Harcourt, Nigerians across religious and ethnic divides trooped out to celebrate a man whose passion for a better Nigeria has captivated their imagination and are now devoted to the political aspiration to lead Nigeria. The most interesting aspect of this celebration and devotion to Peter Obi is that it is spontaneous, organic and absolutely free of charge, as the activities of the Obidients are usually self-sponsored. To the Obidients, support for Obi is a necessary investment today in a future Nigerian enterprise that will yield dividends for all Nigerians in the form of improved welfare and security.
He was first elected governor of Anambra State in 2003 but had to wait for the courts to affirm his mandate in 2005. Obi, a wealthy business man, trader and entrepreneur, from the beginning of his foray into public service, left no one in doubt about his intention to make a difference in politics by simply being different. And by being different Obi immediately set out to substitute state patronage for a privileged few family and acolytes with good governance for the majority of the Anambra people.
So, while he didn’t ‘make anybody’ fabulously wealthy and powerful through the usual business of corrupt state patronage system, Obi made the welfare and security of the lives and properties of Anambra people better by restoring basic public services such as improved quality of education, healthcare, rural infrastructure, prompt payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities, among many others.
Obi’s frugal management of resources and his determination to be different didn’t come without its drawbacks. For those who were used to state patronage, Obi was ‘stingy,’ while many described him as “aka gum” [close fisted]. The story was told about a visiting delegation of members of the National Assembly to the state that paid a courtesy call on Governor Obi. The august visitors were hosted to a lunch reception of rice and stew.
And to the amazement of his guests Obi was personally serving them the stew for their rice; a gesture the visiting members of the National Assembly thought was quite humble of a Nigerian governor, only to be told by some of Obi’s aides that in addition to his humility, each member was allotted two pieces of meat each and ‘Oga’ wanted to make sure it went round as “budgeted.” At the time, Obi’s style of leadership wasn’t fully appreciated even by some of his close political associates who wanted a slice of the national cake accruable to Anambra State. In fact, Obi struggled hard to win a re-election against Chris Ngige and Charles Soludo in 2010. In between, he was illegally impeached by an impatient House of Assembly as he wasn’t ready to ‘settle’ them with state resources.
But while Obi was accused of being stingy, he was never accused of corrupt self-enrichment at the expense of Anambra State’s resources. Obi’s case wasn’t that of “chopping alone”. His was a case of “nobody chops” so that “everybody [Anambra people] can chop.”
And what was the resulting legacy of Peter Obi’s leadership style? In addition to permanently putting an end to scourge of godfatherism that ravaged Anambra State between 1999 and 2003, Peter Obi left the state in a healthy fiscal and financial position, when he left huge savings in cash and investments for his successor after eight years as governor.
In retrospect, having seen the ravages of Nigeria’s corrupt patronage system and vicious godfatherism in other states and at the centre, which has left Nigeria a debt-burdened, cash-strapped country of the world’s most impoverished people, Peter Obi’s qualities of fiscal discipline, frugal management of resources and integrity are now seen by many Nigerians as the leadership panacea for a country in crisis.
That Obi is seen by many Nigerians as possessing the leadership needs of Nigeria in a time of unprecedented socio-economic crisis is primarily the driving force behind his massive popularity. And his consistency of character and purpose has set him ahead of others as the Golden Boy of Nigeria’s opposition.
The soaring popularity of Peter Obi is a clear indication that Nigerians are desirous of good governance and are earnestly yearning for credible leadership. This clearly shows that the problem of Nigeria is more of leadership and far less of followership.
And that Nigerians are ready to cooperate with a credible political leadership when they identify one in the difficult but necessary effort towards national rebirth. All it requires is leadership by example. In Obi and Obidients, just as it was with Buhari and Buharists, all it takes to captivate people’s imagination is to epitomize the virtue of integrity, sincerity of purpose and patriotism and the deployment of bullion vans during election will be unnecessary.
As Nigeria goes into pre-season politics of 2027, Peter Obi affords the opposition coalition a golden opportunity to make a good outing in the next round of elections. All it will require is for the northern wing of the coalition to mobilize support for him from the region. This is because Obi will be coming to the table with at least two geo-political zones of South East and South South, parts of the North Central, Abuja and Lagos. And in the interest of national unity, equity, justice and fairness, Peter Obi, who clearly ticks all the boxes of leadership, should ordinarily be the consensus candidate of the coalition, especially when he has made the concession of being a one-term President. Many words, they say, are not enough for the foolish, but a word is enough for the wise.
