Watchers of politics in Nigeria cannot miss the fact that there is something new about the buildup to forthcoming general election in Nigeria, especially the presidential election. It is the emergence of street marches for preferred presidential candidates.
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Ahead of the elections many had narrowed the next president to come from the established parties; the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) which had been in power since 2015 and the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which was in power for 16 years. The scenario changed when in May one of the front runners for the PDP presidential ticket and former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi unexpectedly dumped the PDP after campaigning for delegates votes in the 36 states of the country and the FCT. He moved to the less fancied Labour Party and emerged as its presidential candidate.
With the established parties, APC and PDP nominating political chess masters Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as their presidential candidates respectively, it was supposed to be the battle of just two titans. However, things may not be going as these experienced political strategy masters had planned it, especially with the support being amassed by the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in some of the strongholds of the APC and PDP.
At the early stage, Obi supporters were derided as being only on social media and lacking electoral value. To show they are not only on social media, the Peter Obi supporters known as the OBIdients began to hold series of streets marches and now street marches have caught on, and established parties are not left out. The highpoint of the OBIdient marches was the nationwide marches they held on Saturday October 1, 2023 which was staged to coincide with Nigeria’s 62nd Independence Anniversary. The marches literarily shutdown Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Bauchi, Kaduna, Warri and Asaba.
The rallies were also held simultaneously in Abia, Kebbi, Ile-Ife in Osun, Nassarawa, Port Harcourt and Abuja. Obi’s supporters also gathered in Manchester and London, as well as Cardiff and Shanghai in China.
Stressing that they are the structures needed to secure a home run in the forthcoming 2023 elections for their candidate, they defied rain and police siege to identify with Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed.
In his reaction to the rallies former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, said Obi has disrupted the political space in the country. Omokri, a staunch supporter of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, described the rallies as great achievements and noted that the Obidient movement should not be disregarded by anyone who was politically conscious.
Spokesman for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, and minister of state for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), mocked Obi supporters, saying the marching Obidients were not more than a thousand people who were not more than the electorate needed at two polling units.
A spokesperson for the Atiku presidential campaign, Daniel Bwala, said the rally by supporters of Obi in Kaduna shows the decline of APC in the state, indicating that APC is losing ground to Labour Party in Lagos. In apparent move to show that Labour Party does not command or poses any threat to its dominance in Lagos State, the APC has also held series of marches in support of the presidential candidate of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Women in their large number on Monday, October 3, 2022 shut down vehicular movement as they stormed various parts of Lagos in support of the presidential candidacy of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu/Kashima Shettima.
The women also expressed support for the second term bid of Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and deputy, Dr. Femi Hamzat.
Also, thousands of APC women in South East marched for the party’s presidential flag bearer Tinubu and his running mate Shettima in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The women converged on Ndubuisi Kanu Square in Owerri where they were received by the wife of Imo Governor Barr. Mrs. Chioma Uzodimma after they had marched on the streets of Owerri. They defied the rains, singing songs of solidarity for Tinubu and Shettima.
Supporters and loyalists of Tinubu have held solidarity walk for him in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The supporters who bombarded the party’s secretariat in Oke-Ado took the rally across major roads in the ancient city walking towards Molete, Beere, Mokola and back to Oke Ado where the party’s secretariat is located. The supporters carried placards with various inscriptions such as: “Awa lokan”; ”Jagaban lokan”; “Tessy lokan”, “Road to Aso Rock”; “Vote Tinubu” and “Asiwaju is our man”. Similar rallies were also held in Ibadan, Oyo State for Tinubu and Senator Teslim Folarin, the APC gubernatorial candidate in the state.
On Sunday October 9, 2022, Lagos was again shut down by rallies, this time staged by the APC. The chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garages Management Committee, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly called MC Oluomo, led different groups on a 5-Million man walk in support of the APC, presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Kashim Shettima, and Lagos State governor, Bababjide Sanwo-Olu, Dr. Femi Hamzat’s victories in 2023 general polls. The rally sponsored by MC Oluomo, witnessed large number of supporters who converged on Teslim Stadium and National Stadium, Surulere. The emergence of rallies as a way of showing support has its downside.
Days after the October 1 rallies, Obi condemned the alleged arrests of his supporters.
LEADERSHIP gathered that a Lagos State coordinator for the Obi Rally, was reportedly arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS). The coordinator, Joseph Onuorah, was said to be arrested when he arrived in Lagos on his way from France. Reacting on his verified Twitter handle, Obi condemned the attack and intimidation of his supporters. He said, “Elections are not deemed free and fair when a certain group employs the tool of intimidation to ensure that the opposition is silenced, both at the campaigns and at the polls.”
In Ibadan there were allegations that scores of APC members in Oyo State, were allegedly attacked. Confirming the attack in a statement, Yekeen Olaniyi, the media aide to Senator Teslim Folarin, described the attack as the height of lawlessness.
Questions have been asked whether these marches can be translated to votes.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP on this new trend, former national chairman of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) Dr Leonard Nzenwa said the marches are not an indication of support on election day, adding that Nigerians are hungry and would readily march for anyone if offered a token of two thousand naira.
In his reaction to the rallies, the national chairman of Action Democratic Party (ADP) and the incumbent IPAC national chairman, Engr Yabagi Sani dismissed the marches as of no consequence.
He said the marches have rather brought ethnicity to the fore. When reminded that those marching for Tinubu and Obi cut across all ethnicities in Nigeria, he insisted that the marches are inspired by quest for power through the instrumentality of ethnicity.
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