posted March 2, 2023
In his first public appearance after the presidential election of February 25, at a world press conference, the Labour Party candidate, Peter Gregory Obi, became so emotional and wept uncontrollably.
He expressed that the tears were not about the election and the outcome but for the fate of the Nigerian youths whose future is brazenly being cancelled by united greedy and rapacious dark forces of primordial dwarfism.
While recounting his experience during the campaign trail, Obi spoke about the bleak future that Nigerian youths seem to have been consigned to by the current system of affairs that’s accentuated by our denial mode of the true state of things.
Specifically, he recounted his encounter with a young lady in Nasarawa who had learned the art of baking but could not afford to buy a basic oven of N75,000 to practise her trade and was not able to access micro-credit, saying this is a reflection of the general picture of our teeming, vibrant and energetic youths’ demography.
At some point, he looked transcendentally ethereal and suddenly broke down in tears and was visibly troubled in his spirit.
“That’s what we have in Nigeria: people who do not have money to buy an oven”, said the LP candidate.
His personal verdict: Obi thought that the processes and conduct of the election did not meet the minimum standard of being adjudged free, fair and credible.
The LP candidate said there were glaring multiple instances of malpractices which were not syncing with the assurances that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, chairman, Professor Yakubu Mahmood had given and still expressing.
Consequently, Obi avowed that the anomalies are evident to show that the electoral umpire did not stay true to their guide; the electoral law, which states that only elections conducted using the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAs) machine and transmitted through the iRev portal, and thereafter, collated and announced.
He said that despite the many shortcomings that require redress, INEC, rehashing a predetermined script still went ahead to announce a winner for the questionable election.
Obi also took a swipe at the announced President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying that he cannot be addressed as “your excellency because it takes someone who is excellent to be addressed as such and so far, from all that occurred in the just concluded election, Tinubu cannot in all morality claim to be excellent.”
And Peter Obi wept.