Can Peter Obi Stop Distracting Ndi Igbo?

It has become very pertinent to make this passionate call for a generation of Igbo leaders who deserve greater clarity on the strategic place of Ndi Igbo in Nigeria. Peter Obi, is a General with no real troop. At best, he works with mercenaries and those milking his opportunistic fame. For instance, a Victor Umeh is not and will not be in Peter’s army, neither does a Tony Nwoye truly reckon with Peter as a Commander of the troops. Both men are mercenaries with their own army. Their only reward is Peter’s opportunism, in the days ahead this will be clearer.

Valentine Obienyem, the man who remains the only true evidence of Peter’s poverty alleviation anywhere in the world, is rich in mining impressionable young people, those he thinks for and controls their action, especially online. Val is the only army in Peter’s troop, and what binds them is not ideological, it is more like a “take-to-the-grave” secret some of which are not unconnected with many of Peter’s “dirty dealings” in government.

Peter’s distraction is akin to Nnamdi Kanu’s rhetoric — very rich in sentiment and emotions. But, flawed in strategy and execution! Today, majority of the Peter noisemakers were part of the pseudo-intellectuals whose opinion formed the foundation for the current destruction of Igbo land. They deployed utopian views and sold same to Ndi Igbo as iron clad strategy for the “liberation” of the people. Worse is that no one was permitted to speak or counter their opinion. Dissent became sabotage, and on the pedestal of our collective silence grew the ruins of ala Igbo.

This same group have flocked to Peter Obi, deploying same trick. Mobbing dissent and threatening violence on strategic thinking! Both Peter and Nnamdi are prisoners of the crowd, orchestrated by a few whose vested interests are met as long as the Southeast remains a political rolling stone. I think the time to end that distraction was 5years ago. However, the next best time to end this distraction is today. Peter, like Nnamdi Kanu, is not a “messiah”. At best, he is one out of many who should be thinking, planning and working together for the good of Ndi Igbo. History is beckoning again, may we not keep silent!

— Mazi Ejimofor Opara PhD writes from Awka, Anambra State.