ObiDatti 2023: Evolution of a Government of the People

“That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” (Abraham Lincoln).

It was on November 19, 1863, in the heat of the American Civil War, that the then president, Abraham Lincoln, delivered the now popular speech quoted above. A bloody encounter had occurred at the city of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania State. Federal forces had lost 7,500 men to secessionist forces, and Lincoln’s remarks were delivered at the dedication of the cemetery.

Apparently overwhelmed by the enormity of sacrifice paid by those soldiers whose corpses were to be laid at the cemetery, President Lincoln focused on the cause for which they had died. They had not died for mere pay. They had not even died for the Lincoln regime. In fact, their death had been for a cause even larger than their country. They had died for the ideal of freedom for all humanity.

The reader is to recall that at the heart of the American Civil War was the contentious subject of slavery. Slave owners, making merchandise out of their inhumanity to man, vehemently opposed every prospect of change. As far as they were concerned, slavery had to continue as “it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.” Lincoln’s political career had been hinged on his very opposition to slavery. Lincoln believed that the government of the people ought to be by the people themselves and for the people’s interests.

The concept of democracy has since undergone various transitions in the United States and elsewhere in the world, but the principle has remained the same. Sadly, many countries of the world have adopted systems of government that have the form of democracy but lack its very ingredient – the people.

In many African democracies, including Nigeria, the government of the people is for several reasons, except for the people themselves. It has been used to appease warlords, compensate ethnic factionists, and as a thanksgiving offering to mercenary godfathers. A sorry situation has evolved where political actors see public office as a personal entitlement – a reward for services they rendered to previous occupants of such offices. The Nigerian democracy has effectively become a government of the people by a cabal and for the cabal.

The consequences are there for everyone to see. Public schools are closed far more often than they are open. Public hospitals are understaffed as all categories of health workers embark on an embarrassing level of exodus from the country. Nigerian politicians continue to deny the decay but shamelessly patronise schools and hospitals abroad, while insisting that there is nothing wrong with those at home.

Millions of ordinary Nigerian citizens have now seen through the deception of the ruling cabal, and are rising to reclaim their country. They are queuing behind the Labour Party and its candidates for president and vice-president, Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Ahmed. What is now known as the OBIdient movement is spreading across the country like wild fire, much to the displeasure of the cabal.

As the campaign continues, and supporters of the other two presidential candidates unite in their opposition to the ObiDatti ticket, Nigerians are not to mistake the choice before them. It is a choice between continuing to slide into preventable national catastrophe, and rescuing the country and setting her on the pathway to genuine prosperity. It is a choice which every citizen must make.

A hurricane of change is blowing across Nigeria. Its message – written in spontaneous support raised by faceless but determined citizens in the most forgotten corners of our country – is clear: this is Nigeria’s turn. Those who trivialise it are to remember the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr: “For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.”