Over the weekend, and even till now, some persons have been trying to differentiate between the Obidient Movement, formed around the charismatic personality of Mr Peter Obi, and the Labour Party, which is the political party Obi and his followers have chosen to propagate their New Nigeria ideology with.
A certain Nollywood star, in a viral video, even took it upon himself to make distinctions between the two bodies. According to him, as well as other social media influencers, the Obidient Movement was not the same thing as the Labour Party. Therefore, one can be an Obidient without being a member of the party. On this note, some mischievous candidates of other parties in Enugu State were seen posting billboards that bore write-ups that had ‘Obidient’ written in them, to hoodwink the common man into voting them.
So, what is really going on? It is a nationwide attempt to deflate this masses-oriented hurricane-like movement which has already broken some political jinxes across the nation and is gunning to take over the scheme of things in Nigeria’s political sphere. The deflation is being attempt via discrediting the political party Obidient Movement has chosen as vehicle for its purpose.
Right here in Anambra State, the state government, which hitherto, left the job of its media promotion to a handful, has set out to engage as many hands as possible in a campaign to see how much damage control it can achieve in the forthcoming House of Assembly elections, come March 18, 2023. Governor Soludo and his media boys are using every strategy in the book to save APGA from the impending onslaught of Labour Party win at the House of Assembly elections. Thank God for the extension of the election day by 1 week.
However, it is imperative to remind the voting public of why Labour Party and the Obidient Movement came into the picture in the first place. There is a need to keep the people focused on the real reason the idea of a third force was initiated in our democracy. The Obidient Movement was born revive the democratic spirit in our democracy where the government would be of the people by the people and for the people. Obidient Movement is a movement of the people seeking to ensure that the idea of separation of power is fully in practice in our democratic system so that the abuse of power by the executive would be curbed.
We all know how Anambra State House of Assembly in particular, and the legislative arm of government across the nation; federal and state alike, had been turned to lap dogs of the executive in previous dispensations. The lawmakers could not control the abuses of the executive simply because they were predominantly rubber stamp ‘o yes’ members of the same political party. The voices of the minority continued to be drowned and the vast majority of the people continued to be shortchanged.
This is the Nigeria the Obidient Movement, through the Labour Party, is seeking to bury. In its place, the people are instituting a Nigeria where the executive can be called to order at every step of the way. And the governors would not have the temerity to threaten the people of depriving them of dividends of democracy if they do not vote in his preferred candidate.
If we allow the Labour Party to be separated from Obidient Movement like this campaign is trying to do, then, it would be au revoir to the dream of a New Nigeria. We would have failed…again…and it would take another stroke of luck to mock up the critical mass that will get things right in this lifetime.
We need to make a statement with the Labour Party regardless of the whole brouhaha. We cannot afford to allow the APGA, which does not even believe in her own presidential candidate, or any other party for that matter, confuse us into accepting that our State House of Assembly is okay with an APGA dominated membership. That would be accepting defeat. That would be failing Peter Obi, the image of Obidient Movement in his own state. That would be proving the elites right, that we do not deserve attention in this democratic system.
You can see how Governor Sanwo Olu of Lagos State is working himself thin to earn the votes of the common man. I heard he was in over three churches last Sunday, shaking as many hands of the worshippers as possible in his bid to make a good impression and hopefully win the majority votes in the March 18 guber election. That is the power of the Obidient Movement.
We cannot afford to deflate that power to the APGA in Anambra State. Professor Chukwuma Soludo can still function as a governor with Labour Party lawmakers. In fact, he would be forced to function better when he has Labour Party lawmakers as a majority calling him to order every step of the way. Maybe, it would even help to weather his embarrassing arrogance that has continued to make nonsense of his good intentions.
Like Jesus said in the scriptures, let the wheat and the tares(those who ran to Labour Party from the old order to fulfill their political ambition) grow together. Because the Obidient Movement is a revolution of the people, it will burn out all the tares on the day of reckoning. It would even be easier to recall under-performing lawmakers or executive members if we insist on the original plan to make March 18 an LP Day across the nation, Anambra State especially.
