Why I Decided To Pitch My Tent With PETER OBI

•Prof. PAT UTOMI Gives Detailed Explanation

+Why He Is Not Supporting ATIKU & TINUBU

His name rings a bell all the time. He is always in the news, speaking Truth to Power. He has written several articles and books. He has given endless speeches at high profile events. He runs a weekly TV programme, Patito’s Gang. He is one intellectual who has been consistently consistent.

Although he ranks as a member of the ruling class by virtue of his status and accomplishments, he doesn’t take nonsense from members of that class. He has been known to be a great critic of the elite & the ruling class and constantly points out their failings.

For those who still can’t catch the drift, lets quickly tell you more about this distinguished Professor of Political Economy, who is also an accomplished Public Policy analyst, who has been actively involved in the game of Politics. Over the last few years, he has been in and out of Politics for a few years now. Taking part in the last 3 general elections. And each time, he has been a rallying point for all the progressives. He has earned the Trust of many people. They like his consistency, steadfastness and principled stance on issues. He is known for his commitment to principles. He has been known as someone who does not compromise on the principles he holds dearly, especially when it has to do with Nigeria.

As the political activity towards the 2023 elections hots up, Prof. Pat Utomi has not hidden his support for Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party Presidential Candidate. He is  one of the Chief Promoters and backers of Peter Obi. And he does not hide it. Not only is he supporting Obi, he has gone on the campaign trail with him severally. This has earned him a lot of criticism, because many of the presidential candidates are his friends. He is a long-standing associate of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate. He has been close to most of his loyalists. He has been close to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate, since his days in the Customs. He is quite close to many more politicians like Pres. Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, etc. The list is long and endless.

But his decision to support Obi has come to many as a shock. And reasons have been read into that decision. A few days back, City People spent some quality time with Pat Utomi and he explained why he has pitched his tent with Peter Obi.

He told City People that after he and some like minds set up a political organisation, which is known as The 3rd force Peter Obi came on the scene. And once this phenomenon called Peter Obi came along to join the Labour Party, he (Pat Utomi) decided to support Obi. Reason? He believes it is only Peter Obi that can deliver Nigeria at this critical stage. I said, this is  where we are going. It is not about me. It is not about Power. It is about how to save Nigeria and deliver Nigeria for the Nigerian people,” Prof. Utomi said.

Continuing, he said, “One analytics agency that I talked to 4 to 5 months ago to assess Peter Obi, who told me Prof. you have come up with this your ideals, this is Nigeria, you can’t achieve much with Peter Obi, came back to me 2 weeks ago to apologise. He said we have done our survey and we have found out that this man is leading everywhere, even leading Bola Tinubu in Lagos. It is not about me being gifted with extraordinary skills, it is just that people are suffering so much under this system. The hand of God is working. We are in for a lot of surprises, this time around.”

“People know me for my principles. So, it’s always about principles for me. It is about what will make Nigeria work. So, when I saw Peter Obi coming out of one of these major parties into this 3rd Force, I told him to let’s work together. I embraced him and told him to let us work together to save Nigeria. Here, we are hoping on God’s grace, and we hope to be remembered as part of those who delivered Nigeria”.

 What are the striking qualities that Peter Obi has that made Pat Utomi support him? “His Humility. The starting point is Humility. You cannot lead if you are not humble. If you are humble, you will listen and use other people’s ideas to work. Fortunately, I have known Peter Obi for many years when he was Governor. He will call me frequently. So, I know he has a capacity to learn. That is very, very important. To be a great leader, you need humility.”

Secondly, I know that people make fun of him by saying I no de give shishi. (Laughs) What Nigeria needs at this time is a leader who is not profligate. I went with him recently to Washington to go and meet some US public officials who wanted to speak to 4 of our candidates. The one before us went in with some governors and all kinds of hangers-on. The Americans were embarassed. Peter Obi went in with just 3, his wife, Aisha Yussuf, one of the young activists and myself. This makes more sense, the Americans said. So, the bombastic view of the leader as a man who goes around in private jets no longer works. Nigeria needs to cut down on that waste. We need to allow sense to prevail.

Of course, I am supporting him because of Competence. He has played in the private sector significantly, because when I was the Chairman of a bank, he was the youngest Chairman of a bank in the country. That is his performance in the private sector. He has built tremendous personal wealth as a trader, as he likes to call himself.”

“I saw his activities in Anambra. It was principled-driven and the achievements. Of course, we must talk about what he did in education because Anambra had gone down to the bottom when he took over and stubbornly insisted on some policies and within 3 years, he completely reversed the position. He took Anambra from the 26th position in the federation in WASC, to No 1.

So, a collection of these factors made me believe that he would play well, within what we had created, called

The Collegial Leadership Council. A group of us had come up with an idea to set up a council. These are people Usman Bugaje, Tola Mobolurin, myself, Prof. Jega (at that time), and all of us to create a sense of collegial leadership, not a one-man-hero that can’t solve our problems, that collectively, a group of us can hold each other accountable and responsible to the Nigerian people and I found that he befits this more than other people. So, that is the basis that I took my decision to support him”.

City People also asked him how easy it is for him to support Obi and ignore his friends who are the other presidential candidates like Tinubu & Atiku who are his friends and whom he had worked with closely for years. “Yes, they are all my friends, I have known them for years.” So, how does he feel, each time he sees them. “I have no problems because what fundamentally drives me is what is good for Nigeria. I will be very honest and I will tell them to their faces what I think and feel and why I think so. I like to see myself as an Omoluabi. I am not Yoruba but I like to see myself as someone brought up in the Classic Omoluabi tradition. I need to tell you how I became interested in Politics.”

“It was Baba Ayo Adebanjo that caused it. I was always the so called activist. More than 20  years ago, he said, Pat, I like what you are doing everywhere but you will never change the society with what you are doing as an activist. You have to become a politician. That is how I became a politician. I thank God that there are still people like Baba Ayo Adebanjo, who believe in principles.”

“Atimes, people will say Pat, Atiku Abubakar is your friend. And I usually respond that, very much so. I knew him way back, when he was still wearing the Customs uniform, when we met and we became friends. I went to his office at Murtala Muhammed Airport and we sat and talked about his plans for retirement. And, I helped to write the feasibility that he used to borrow money to start a farm when he was still in Uniform.

Of course, talking about BAT, everybody knows how close I have been to Tinubu. Everybody knows my story with him. As for Atiku, I have served on the Board of Trustees of his American University in Yola. So, this is a friendship of more than 40 years. As for BAT Asiwaju, everybody knows that his nickname for me is Citizens. I used to lead the retreat of the Lagos State cabinet in those days. Whenever they ask me about payments, he will say it is the Citizens’ duty.”

“Some of my classmates who went to Loyola used to make fun of me. They will say I am foolish. Instead of collecting money, I will be holding on to one yeye principle. Throughout that period till today, you won’t see any gift or payment made to me. I worked so closely with Yemi Cardoso when he was a Commissioner that you will think I was a staff of Lagos State government. We worked on a World Bank initiative on Urban blighted areas. It was a full-time job. Why I support Peter Obi is because he is the one who can do this job today. If I had to vote during the last election maybe I would have voted Atiku Abubakar. But that window has closed. What matters is not Loyalty for Loyalty’s sake. That opportunity is gone. That season has passed. This season is for Peter Obi. He is the one who can do the job. I can see the direction where the hand of God is leading, what we need for the job yesterday is different from what we need today. We need a new generation.”

“My hands are too short to compete with that of God’s hand.”

Is  it  also true that Prof. helped to write the APC Manifesto? “Help ke? APC manifesto it was written in my house. It is the VP that is always talking about it and sometimes, I wonder why he keeps talking about it. It was drafted in my house, by the VP, Osinbajo, myself and Wale Edun. We met everyother day in my house for weeks until we finished our activity”.

– SEYE KEHINDE