From Obidiency to Obidiocy, By Semiu Akanmu
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Obidiency was an understandable social response to culminating issues of youth unemployment, police brutality, biting economic realities: the yearnings for that change that has remained continuously elusive.
But this agitation must remain hinged on democratic ideals of freedom of choice and issue-based debate. For a movement that comes with a claim to moral superiority, this is an irreducible minimum.
Unfortunately, recent events are clearly showing a mass metamorphosis of Obidiency to Obidiocy. Hopefulness to delusion. Mental acuity to hypnosis. Impressionable youths and immolating adults have become the engine oil to keep Obi’s political engine working. Loss can truly be a devastating experience.
Let’s start from the delusion that Obi’s mandate — the third position — was stolen. No political analysis, based on our historical voting pattern and elements of winning national elections, would ever place a win for Obi. The math is not just there.
But his popular appeal, justifiable or not, was evident in his impressive performance, if we’re to reflect on the data-driven prediction. To now stretch that to “stolen mandate” is delusional and an egregious ambition.
To put that in proper context, Obi’s party had agents in all polling units. This means, by now, they should have unimpeachable evidence, based on results uploaded to iReV to prove there are irregularities that are sufficient to overturn the election. It is now purely a legal battle.
But the head of Obi’s fascist mob, the running mate by the name Datti, said the only acceptable judgment is theirs. And instead of sticking to the issue of the incendiary language called out by Wole Soyinka, supporters of the Panama governor, who also lacks basic ethics of conflict of interest, and failed to apologise for using state resources to improve his company’s equity, want to question Soyinka’s morality. Because he is a friend of Tinubu. Not because he has not called out Buhari’s government in the past. This is a friend he did not campaign for nor did he endorse. This is a friend he indirectly referred to, in the same interview, as the “other movements” — the movements that are of no interest to Kongi.
Are Obidients looking into the mirror? Consider your candidate, even if we discount his association with Atiku and every establishment member till date, still went ahead to be baptised by Obasanjo. Can you really stop this moral grandstanding? Can you question someone’s morality because he has a history with Tinubu?
Kongi’s 1965 — arguably equally fascistic tendency — action and APC’s “parallel government” statement have been drawn to justify Datti’s unguarded words. While I leave the introspective hindsight of the 1965 event to Soyinka’s responsibility, are we not clear yet that APC’s standard is not an acceptable standard?
Assuming these are true equivalence, does one bad justify the other and if truly the so-called movement is offering a fresh breath, the past we want to discard should never be a benchmark for accountability. Of what value is opposing APC to support LP if the condemnable action of the former will become acceptable because it is done by the latter? These are soul-searching questions for Obidients who are yet to complete their metamorphosis to Obidiots. They need to revise their standard.
Well, Wole Soyinka has called for debate to stretch that the fascist label is justifiable. This is an O call, and one that says more about Soyinka’s belief in Datti’s intellection. The ball is now in Obi-Datti’s court.
The second prong of the transition to Obidiocy is the supporters’ volte face to the “Yes, Daddy” clip. A supposed idealistic movement would rather keep shut, admit and apologize, or at worse, deflect, and let events run over it. Rather, they attempted to obfuscate with some amateur forensic analyses. Denials that are insulting to public intelligence. And when those are not working, they appropriate and arrogate it, turn it to clap back and some printed and wore T-shirts as symbols of solidarity to a “religious war” that Obi wants to prosecute.
Obi’s politics is an instrument for Crusaders at the national level; an instrument for Catholic supremacy in his state. This conversation with Oyedepo — a clergy notorious for Muslims-hating sermons and open molestation of Hijab-wearing women — is no fresh air. This is more stench.
The potential victims of Obi’s religious war, who still have the presence of mind to queue behind this crusader-fascist movement, must have to re-examine their self-esteem.
There is a point to draw the line. This is it.
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