By Donu Kogbara
On Monday night, I appeared as a guest commentator on Prime Time, the popular and thought-provoking Arise Television show that is hosted by the inimitable Charles Aniagolu.
We talked about National Assembly legislators who recently defected from the Labour Party to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. I disdainfully described them as rats deserting a sinking ship, then said that the ship would not have started to sink in the first place if the Labour Party leader, Peter Obi, had embarked on an aggressive anti-government crusade when the results of blatantly flawed elections were announced in 2023.
I pointed out that Obi had won in every major city in Southern Nigeria, including Tinubu’s Lagos domain. I reminded the world that he is a superstar who was adored by millions of his compatriots.
I also accused Atiku, the other key Opposition leader, and key members of his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of being too passive.
I expressed a fear that APC will win the 2027 election despite being far from competent and making endless mistakes; and I urged both Obi and Atiku to prevent this calamity from occurring by copying activists like the fearlessly rebellious Dele Farotimi, who has confronted the ruling elite so many times that he was arrested last week and has become a national hero as a result.
Long story short, I said that I was no longer a member of the Obidient camp because I was disappointed in Obi. But I also made it clear that Tinubu has never been my cup of tea and that I will be delighted if the global trend for unseating incumbents (as recently seen in Syria, Ghana, Botswana, Senegal, etc) is replicated in Nigeria.
As far as I was concerned, I was only complaining about Obi – whom I described as a good man who simply needs to become more pugilistic – because I was a frustrated fan who desperately wants him to succeed and rescue this country.
And I thought it was blindingly obvious that my heart was in the right place because I even, at the end of the interview, told Aniagolu that I was ready to risk arrest by acting as an unpaid and unrepentantly outspoken mouthpiece for Obi.
I was therefore taken aback when a bunch of ill-mannered loutish bush rats who claimed to be Obidients descended on me via Twitter (X) and rained insults on my head. Some insisted that I’m a paid Tinubu agent. Others called me a fool, an evil nonentity and so on.
I expected some Arise TV viewers to disagree with me and say that there is nothing wrong with Obi’s current strategy, but I didn’t expect to be disagreed with in such a primitive and vicious way.
Fortunately, not every Obi supporter is feral and I also received a lot of positive reactions from folks who agreed with me.
And guess what?
Obi himself contacted me and said that he would like to talk to me face to face because he regarded some of my comments as constructive criticisms and wanted to explain his position.
I was totally gobsmacked by his modesty and immediately offered to visit him. But he told me that he’d visit Abuja a couple of days later and would just pop into my house on his way from the airport to the small hotel he stays in here (believe it or not, despite being a billionaire, the only home he owns in Nigeria is in Onitsha!).
So he showed up on my doorstep yesterday morning without an entourage; and my staff and I were blown away by his graciousness, humility and charisma. When I thanked him profusely for taking the trouble to visit me when I – as the non-VIP – should have been visiting him, he laughed and thanked me for having him.
Gaining the opportunity to hear him out was an enormous privilege; and the conversation we had was thought-provoking and illuminating.
I asked him to forgive my bluntness on Arise and explained that I just wanted him to deal with government bullies more decisively to prevent Nigeria from becoming a banana republic one party state.
I will not repeat everything he told me. Suffice it to say that only he who wears the shoes know where they pinch, that he has been through A LOT of stress but is still fighting a good fight, albeit not as radically as hotheads and firebrands would wish. And that I now believe that his civilized methods can achieve desired results under certain circumstances.
He is spending a lot of money on charitable causes in all four corners of Nigeria. He has travelled widely and has a clear vision of the things that need to be done to put this nation on the same footing as more sophisticated nations in which most citizens are comfortable.
His grasp of statistics relating to development is impressive, as is his understanding of alternative political systems that he feels we will benefit from emulating (he talked at some length about the merits of South African style proportional representation).
He promised me a formal interview in the New Year and I am looking forward to providing Vanguard readers with more insights into the mind of this iconic gentleman.
By the way, I have just been told by someone else that some government supporters PRETEND to be Obidients on social media platforms and are deliberately offensive to give Obi a bad name.
DONU’S WORLD
I have a YouTube channel. It’s called DONU’S WORLD.
https://youtube.com/@donukogbara?si=bBm_IPdFZ_wUyKYq
Check DONU’S WORLD out every Wednesday to hear about my constant quest for self-improvement. Tune in every Friday to hear my views on life in general. And please “like”, subscribe and share!
Today, I will do a follow-up on the burning issue I covered last week: The controversial Assisted Dying Bill that has polarised British public opinion and could also be described as an Assisted Suicide Bill.
Tomorrow, I will host a live online discussion about the question that is at the heart of this debate: Is it ever OK, to help a terminally ill loved one (who is in pain and wants to die) end his or her life? If you are interested, log onto my channel to find out how to participate.
