What do they OBIDIENTS want?

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

By Ayo Dada & Leke Akinrowo

WHAT DO THE OBIDIENTS WANT, DEMOCRACY OR CONTROL?

The online behavior of the Obidients are aggressive, Intolerant, toxic and extremely disrespectful, they often resort to insults and personal attacks instead of intelligent debate. They do not tolerate dissent or criticism of Peter Obi.

They use hashtags, engaging with Obi’s posts, and sharing false content to push their narratives.

They weaponize the “illusionary truth effect”—repeating negative narratives or doctored images until they are accepted as fact—often targeting President Tinubu, Wole Soyinka and very recently Obasanjo after his trip to Ogun state during the inauguration of the Gateway International Airport because of his speech praising PBAT, and any public figure that does not support Obi.

Contrary to being just “mobs,” the movement is structured. They organize physical events, produce campaign songs (like the Hausa track Lokaci for 2027), and Obi is known to personally attend their social events, keeping them motivated.

This shows that Obidients are against the freedom to associate, to choose who you support and the freedom of speech to express yourself and or campaign for your preferred candidates.

They attack opponents and their family with lies, intimidation, bullying, negative proganda online and sometimes threaten physical harm to their targets.

Unfortunately, these people have the nerve to accuse PBAT and APC of “Oppressive Control” and Dictatorial Tendencies: They accuse the APC administration of attacking civil society, the media, and organized labour, citing the targeting of critics and interference with the ADC leadership as evidence of a shift toward dictatorship.

Just imagine if they have the power of the federal government in their hands.

Remember, Peter Obi NEVER condemned IPOB and the mayhem and murderous atrocities they committed in the south east, costing serious economic and educational setbacks with their “sit-at-home” order.

This should give people a window into the mind of Mr. Obi.

What they truly want is NOT Democracy, what they want is CONTROL!

Nigerians, be careful what you wish for.

Just a thought!

In his response Leke Akinrowo gave a brilliant submission that is a must read, here it is below:

Obidients are made up of four main component groups as follows:

First, the angry youths who were protesting against police brutality during the EndSARS agitations. They felt aggrieved in the way that agitation was put down and had been spoiling for an opportunity to disrupt the order of the day. Obi became the inheritor of their collective anger because at the time of the EndSARS protests back in 2020, he was a regular feature on Pastor Poju Oyemade’s The Platform Series, where he presented himself as a frugal, fiscally responsible public official, and this resonated with that demographic. No one bothered to dig deep, they simply swallowed up the gobbledygook hook, line and sinker. When the EndSARS protests ended and there was an overwhelming sense of injustice and oppression within that group, that anger started looking for an avenue for expression, and the electioneering season of 2021/23 gave them an outlet. Of course, because they’re young and inexperienced, only participating in politics for the first time, scrutinising their candidates’ antecedents was not their first instinct, disrupting the existing order was. We can say they were genuinely misguided.

The second group that makes up the Obidient movement are the Igbo irredentists who have been crying about marginalisation for a while. They believe the Nigerian society has not been fair to the Igbo nation since the end of the Biafran Civil War. They’re locally based and also have large diaspora members. These feelings of marginalisation flared up to a feverish pitch after Jonathan and PDP lost power in 2015. Before then, right from Obasanjo’s administration, Igbo people had enjoyed government patronage, not in terms of government programmes and projects for their region, no, (because no government has had more programmes and projects for that region than this current one), but in terms of having Igbos occupying positions they consider prominent enough at the federal level. After Obasanjo, Yar’Adua followed the same pattern, and by the time Jonathan took over, he became a a pseudo Igbo president. He even brought out his Igbo name, Ebele, and the Igbo liked it. They also enjoyed very prominent positions in the federal government and cared less who was shut out. But the group that was firmly shut out was the Yoruba. The highest Yoruba in government at the time occupied just a relatively inconsequential ministerial position, (I think it was Akinwunmi Adesina), and the Igbo could care less of course. When APC and Buhari took over from PDP and Jonathan in 2015, the Igbo became implacable. They engaged in an undeclared online war with the Hausa and the Fulani whom they thought were the ones who took away their political privileges. Those ones were not used to fighting online, so the Igbo online fighters dominated the whole space and daily poured invectives on everyone, but particularly the Fulani, whom they heaped most blame on because of Buhari, a Fulani man. This group does not care about other ethnic groups who supported Obi during the 2023 elections, so they are online daily abusing and insulting everyone who offers any dissenting political opinions which do not support Obi and their ethnic agendas.

The third group are simply IPOB/ESN and UGM types. Before 2021/23 electioneering cycle, they dared not come out openly to push their separatist agendas, so they were in the dark, in the bushes clamping down on dissent amongst their fellow Igbo on behalf of their supreme leader, Nnamdi Kanu. They dominated their fellow Igbo and sought to do the same with the rest of the country. When they met resistance from non Igbo, they turned every opposition against Peter Obi to opposition and hatred for the Igbo. No matter how much you explain how you grew up with Igbo friends and neighbours, they cannot be placated, they will come after you with violent rhetorics and insults. If you respond in like manner, they will then revert to the claim of hatred for the Igbo, and envy at their success, and generally recoil into their victimhood shell.

The fourth group comprises of disenchanted middle class Nigerians, whether locally based or in the diaspora. Some of them are fairly educated, so they feel they know how the government should run, particularly the ones who live abroad and have become exposed to advanced governmental systems. Some are not so educated, but are no less disenchanted and want something new. They’re unable to properly analyse the economy and only consider the inconveniences associated with current government reforms. They can be very caustic too, and even though this group has a lot of Yoruba people who pride themselves as ọmọluàbí, they have commonly been affected by the general uncouth and insultive nature of their co-travellers in that movement.

Obidients don’t want a better Nigeria, they just want Obi. And because they lack objectivity, they’re unable to see anything potentially good or promising in any other, except their Obi. Unfortunately for them, insults don’t win elections, online bullying will only alienate others. What elections need are political structures, consultations, negotiations, strong alliances across divides, and clear visions which the general voting public can connect to. Obi seriously lacks what it takes to win a national election. In fact, his home state of Anambra will not vote for him as a governor today after living through Obiano and Soludo, even though they may not mind him winning at the national level.

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