The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has suggested that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was voted in to power in 2023 because he is a Yoruba man and this didn’t go down well with many Yoruba, especially the Yoruba who supported his presidential ambition. They are disappointed and angry with him for calling all the Yoruba tribalists.
In the last general election, he was massively supported by the Yoruba and some of them trusted him with their votes. That’s why he was able to defeat President Tinubu in Lagos State and also had significant impacts in all the elections in the South West states.
A few weeks back, Mr Peter Obi suggested that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was voted into office because he is a Yoruba man in the 2023 general election. Obi stated this during an interview on The Honest Bunch with Nedu and his crew.
He asked if there is a market where Yoruba people buy things at a cheaper rate now when the prices of things have gone up.
“Let’s talk about what is happening today, rice is N100,000 and we are not even sure where we are gonna be with this situation.
“It is our turn, he is a Yoruba man. Ask the people in Ogun here, is there a place where you people buy bread cheaper? So I can follow you this night and buy one.
Nigerians have registered their displeasure over Obi’s comment with many describing it as unpresidential.
Okupe while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today on a few days back, said, “When Obi made that statement, it insulted us. I am a Yoruba man; I left everything and followed Obi.
“For the first time, Obasanjo left his circle of influence and deviated to support Obi.
“I do not regret supporting Peter Obi. But now I cannot do it again. The reason why I did it was because we agreed that a Southern president must emerge.
“I was approached that if a southern president must emerge, which zone must it come to? I said the South-East.
“If all these eminent Yoruba people supported you, why now bring us down publicly? It is wrong.”
“If I cannot speak the truth at my age, then there is no point to live. What Peter Obi said was wrong, he said that emilokan, that they should ask people in Ogun State whether they are buying bread cheaper.
“When Bola Tinubu said emilokan, he was not addressing the nation, he was not addressing a rally, he was addressing APC delegates in the premises of Ogun State government who were going to APC convention that they should vote for him.”
Mr Peter Obi is also angry because some prominent Yoruba have pitched their tents towards President Tinubu. For instance, before the 2023 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi paid Professor Wole Soyinka a courtesy visit in his Abeokuta home but shortly after elections Professor Wole Soyinka became an enemy. Even when he celebrated his 90th birthday, he failed to celebrate him. Why? The friction between the nonagenarian literati and the former governor of Anambra State, which started in May 2023, can be attributed to reactions to the outcome of the general elections.
Following the election, Obi’s running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, during an interview on Channels TV claimed Nigeria had no president-elect, despite the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announcing Bola Tinubu as the winner of the election.
Baba-Ahmed also said swearing in Tinubu could mean the end of democracy in Nigeria because according to him, the ex-governor of Lagos State did not meet constitutional requirements to lead the country.
Baba-Ahmed’s statement sparked controversy in the country and while some Tinubu supporters called for his arrest, his party supporters, politically dubbed ‘Obidients’, amplified the sentiment on social media.
Reacting to the controversial comment ahead of Tinubu’s inauguration, Soyinka, while speaking on Arise TV, condemned the Kaduna politician’s utterances on national TV.
He said the comment was against democratic values and that Nigerians do not need such a do-or-die provocation.
“I have never heard the kind of blackmailing language that were used by Mr Datti. That kind of attitude, that kind of do-or-die provocation is not what I think we have been all struggling for,” Soyinka said.
Expectedly, Soyinka’s reaction did not go down well with Obidients descending on him, and verbally assaulted him with unprintable names.
Mr Peter Obi failed to caution his obidients followers and this didn’t go down well with many Yoruba. They felt it’s an attempt to disrespect one of the Yoruba elders because he has a contrary view about his ambition. And not only Professor Wole, the obidients have also attached Bode George, Doyin Okupe, Daniel Bwala and some other Yoruba who were one time pro Obi.
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