Why Eastern Political Forces Must Align With Tinubu And Not Obi 

By: Victor Olusegun Oluwole 

My response to Chimamada is simple : Obi has served enough! Anambra is still recovering from his service. Obi is simply way out of his depth considering himself worthy of being President of our nation at this critical time when absolute brilliance and economic managerial dexterity is required to lead our nation out of the successive failings of leadership of yesteryears. 

The East must reconsider this ethnocentric and tribal support for Obi. In a wider, more in-depth strategic political discussion, what Obi is doing today is what continues to keep the East farther away from power. We've accused several other Igbo politicians of being selfish by putting their personal interests ahead of their regional interest. The governors from the East and top politicians like Senator Kalu are conscious of the political consequences of not properly aligning politically. 

Obi knows this too, his lack of substance and capacity for that office irrespective, he wants to run and then play the victim card again claiming he won an election he came a distant 3rd in. Educated but politically ill informed individuals like Chimamada must realise that thier support for Obi is counter productive and counter intuitive to the overall political interest of the East, in actual fact, during the last election, she stated that she was backing Obi because he is an Igbo candidate. 

With due respect to her and her literary accomplishments, book knowledge does not always translate to political knowledge. Someone who writes a letter to the then American President Joe Biden to come and intervene in our nations sovereign democratic process because she felt aggrieved that her candidate lost isn't particularly someone whose political opinion or stance falls within those I would personally ever consider relevant or significant in the scheme of things politically. 

Thankfully, I have grown the necessary thick skin for insults and abuse from Obi's gullible followers. Their ignorant and uncouth rants, their threats and the invocation of key words like "tribal" "bigot" and a host of others do not faze me. The truth is sacrosanct and requires no corroboration, I will not submit to any knowledge or wisdom that is pedestrian to mine but rather those superior from where knowledge could be gained and Wisdom derived in order to shape the future. 

Therefore, permit me to drop this bomb  here again. The East should not be contesting the Presidency at this time! It's as simple as that and yes, I said it ! Why? Like I stated earlier, it is politically counter productive and counter intuitive to do so. These years of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu's Presidency must be spent shopping for a worthy and veritable and sellable aspirant with an amazing and enviable political/Public record and importantly with some national exposure. 

These years ought to be the political capacity building years for the East and more importantly, these years must be spent aligning and realigning strategically for the Presidency (in full glorious two terms) not some desperate "I'm only going to serve one term nonsense" . The East must stop making political enemies of its neighbours, how can we share a common region and not be properly aligned politically for our own good?. 

Why short-change your entire region based on a baseless ambition through an intellectually acclaimed incompetent and bereft candidate? When Prof Soludo made those strong comments over the weekend, the Governor knew exactly what he was saying, he wasn't stuttering when he made those declarations. He knows quite well the consequences of Obi's selfish actions and it was his way of sounding a much needed note of caution to the East to recalibrate and rejig it's political compass ???? . 

The fact that the East has been seriously marginalised or systematically kept away from the Presidency of Nigeria is a case that can and must be made to remind us all that we've not particularly been fair to one another, however, much of that blame sits with the various failings to properly and strategically align and realign alongside political movements that could have successfully advocated for that to happen. 

What I'm sure and actually certain of is that no matter the scheming or political rigmarole from the North, once Asiwaju completes his second term and hands power back to the North for another two terms, power must then return to the South and the Southeast to be precise. Therefore, my note of caution to the East is to cease promoting this growing hateful hate within Southern Nigeria. 

They must rein Obi in and curb his selfish political excesses, false and provocative gaslighting statements against this government that continues to expose his ignorance about governance at that level and also pitches the East and Western regions against each other. The smart thing for the East to do today is what the Likes of Governor Soludo and Senator Kalu are doing, making friends for the political future of the East. 

What those of us who have been advocating for a President from the East have been saying is that the support for Asiwaju today in Southern Nigeria ought to be absolutely overwhelming partly because he has earned it and of course because we are the region that should in turn form the overwhelming support base for an Igbo president when the time comes. The only thing that cannot be promised is that another Northerner will not seek to contest against the candidate from the East. 

That antecedent is well established with the North, they will always seek power irrespective of what's fair or not. But for Asiwaju's strategic political partnerships and the good fortune of positive realignment of political forces, a powerful cabal that managed to hijack the Buhari government was scheming for Atiku, another Northerner from the opposition party to continue after Buhari. That tells you the extent some Northern political forces will go to keep power in the North, these are facts and they are facts that Chimamada will never know and the political technicalities she may never be able to fathom. 

The complexities and consequences of poor, unintelligent, jaundiced political gerrymandering and miscalculations in the Nigerian political terrain could be fatal. It has the capacity to bring to an abrupt extinction the political aspirations of anyone who fails to plan strategically in a nation as diverse and potentially politically volatile as ours. Therefore, do not allow Obi and his "Obidiotic minions" to destroy the greater and better promises that the political future of the East holds.

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Victor Olusegun Oluwole writes from the United Kingdom. Otherwise known as Posh MC in The UKs event Circles, he is  a trained broadcaster, an award winning Corporate & Social Events Host, Sociopolitical Analyst and Writer. He is also into Public Relations with Significant interest in Nigeria's Politics.