Why Presidency’s ‘Obi is a liar’ jibe is not resonating: Nonye Soludo, First Lady of Anambra State, whose husband, Chukwuma Soludo, is supplying the ammunition with which the presidency is taking misguided potshots at Obi’s high-octane political career, takes the cake in this game of idiocy… Peter Obi’s high-minded proclivity to go high when the Keyamos, Onanugas, Soludos, Umahis, etc. of this country go low, his ability to respond to insults and unfair attacks with dignity and integrity is the reason why they remain so confounded despite their braggadocio.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
On this day, October 1, 66 years ago, Nigeria gained flag independence from Britain. Within these years, the country has reached a milestone – 27 years of unbroken civilian rule, which many confuse as democracy.
Ours is not yet a democracy. It may well be with time, but democracy and civilian rule are poles apart. In a civilian rule, power is concentrated and recklessly abused by the political elites without public oversight but the idea of democracy calls for something more fundamental: it requires popular participation, free and fair elections and strong institutional checks and balances.
Democracy is not just the absence of a military junta, it specifies how leaders are chosen through competitive, transparent and regular elections; protects human rights and ensures accountability of the government to the people. Above all, it demands functional separation of powers among the three arms of government and independence the judiciary.
Except for those who have wilfully chosen to lie to themselves, well-meaning citizens agree that Nigeria, even after 27 years of unbroken civilian rule, does not meet any of these conditions.
The 1999 constitution is whimsically abused and the government of the day is anything but accountable. In fact, the president considers himself far above the Nigerian state. Just like King Louis XIV of France, who magisterially declared L’État, c’est moi – I am the state – President Bola Tinubu holds, without any scintilla of doubt, absolute legislative, executive and judicial authority without any checks. The Godswill Akpabio-led National Assembly exits at Tinubu’s pleasure. The courts interpret his body language in making consequential rulings.
There is total concentration of state power in one individual – the president – so much so that state governors who are constitutionally guaranteed some measure of independence from the federal government are falling over themselves to be in Tinubu’s good books. Even those in opposition political parties are the loudest in singing the “on your mandate” chorus.
But come to think of it, why wouldn’t they when Tinubu, despite the fact that he has no constitutional power to unilaterally suspend, remove, or replace a sitting state governor, nevertheless suspended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who, after serving out the suspension, went back to the president to thank him for his benevolence. That is how unbelievable and surreal the system has become.
Tinubu’s power is so absolute that opposition governors routinely go to Aso Rock to present their certificate of return and to thank him for his benevolence. Of course, they know that such a pledge of loyalty is the beginning of political wisdom in Nigeria.
But it is even worse. Civil society organisations are not left out in the mad race to kiss the emperor’s ring, which explains why Mrs Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, SAN deemed it fit to pay a courtesy visit to President Tinubu even before she was sworn in as the president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA). And that is what presidential aides mean when they tell whoever cares to listen that Tinubu can rule Nigeria from any part of the world and for as long as he chooses.
READ ALSO: Nigeria’s political augury is getting starker
So, Nigeria is 66 years today but rather than rolling out the drums, it calls for sober reflection. Sixty-six years after flag independence and 27 years of civilian rule, can Nigeria finally make the consequential leap from civilian rule to democratic governance in 2027? That is the hope of millions of longsuffering citizens. But I doubt if that will happen considering the cloak and dagger politics that is ashore.
Rather than telling the people what they have done in the last 40 months to make their lives better, officials of the Tinubu-led administration are engaged in a frenzy of name-calling. Expectedly, their main target is the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Peter Obi because the tree that has fruits attracts the most stones.
But it is bordering on obsession. In an election where there are 18 presidential candidates, the focus on Obi is abusive, to say the least. It is as if there is a presidential award for anyone in government who will insult Obi the most even when the man visited with so much negativity continues to insist on issues-based campaign.
With everything else failing, the latest campaign of calumny is to label him a liar. Leading the charge are Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, and Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Media.
Even those who don’t know the meaning of fact-check are now on a deliberate mission of wrong-footing Obi. The easily excitable Keyamo, who is mendacity personified, was on a voyeuristic mission last week when, while defending the infantile focus on Obi, wrote on X: “I see some suggestions that everyone is ‘obsessed’ about Peter Obi because we are always talking about him. I am sorry, but they miss the point. When someone lies per second, you also have to fact-check him per second. Therefore, to put it simply, the amount of time we talk about Peter Obi is directly proportional to the amount of lies he tells.”
Onanuga was equally unsparing and caustic. Accusing Obi’s supporters of giving him a “licence to lie,” the presidential spokesman wrote on X: “No one blames Obi for being a pathological liar… Those who love H.E. Peter Obi should advise him to stop lying as a habit so as to avoid the constant embarrassment of confronting inconvenient facts and truth.”
But Nonye Soludo, First Lady of Anambra State, whose husband, Chukwuma Soludo, is supplying the ammunition with which the presidency is taking misguided potshots at Obi’s high-octane political performance, takes the cake in this game of idiocy.
Speaking last week at the 22nd All Nigeria Editors Conference in Enugu, Obi, in his usual pacifist politics, reiterated that he was not quarrelling with Soludo and in emphasising how close the two families are, told the audience that he and his wife are godparents to one of Soludo’s children, a claim which Mrs Soludo rebutted.
Hear her: “Mr Peter Obi is not a godfather to any of the children of Professor Chukwuma and Dr Nonye Soludo. The facts concerning the godparent relationship between the two families are as follows: Dr Nonye Soludo, First Lady of Anambra State, is the confirmation ‘godmother’ to Peter Obi’s daughter. Mrs Margaret Obi, wife of Mr Peter Obi, is the baptismal godmother to one of Prof Chukwuma Soludo’s daughters. Neither Mr Obi nor Professor Soludo has served as a godparent to the other’s children.”
What a shame! Many people are still scratching their heads after reading the statement. What was the idea? Did Soludo’s wife actually authorise it? Did she even read what was pushed out in her name? Is she so dim-witted? Little wonder no one bothered to dignify her with a response. Such a new low.
The irony is that the people accusing Obi of fibbing are the real pathological liars, who have elevated wantonness, depravity, whoopla and deceit to governance tools. It is only in Nigeria that those who have neither verifiable certificates nor school mates are probing the academic records of a man who not only has certificates but verifiable school mates and teachers. It is only in Nigeria that those with questionable NYSC discharge certificates are calling someone’s authentic discharge certificate fake because it was allegedly signed on a Saturday.
In 1999, Keyamo filed a lawsuit against the Lagos State House of Assembly to challenge their powers to investigate and clear Tinubu of historical certificate allegations. Today, the self-same Keyamo says the president did not attend traditional primary and secondary schools but instead studied and passed examinations from home arguing that studying independently at home used to be the norm.
But he is being smart by half. The question is not whether some exceptional people study independently at home and yet come out in flying colours because some prominent Nigerians travelled that academic route. The issue is that in Tinubu’s case there are no certificates to show for his presumed academic brilliance. Besides, Keyamo is lying because in 1999, according to his Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Form CF 001 filed to contest the Lagos State governorship election, Tinubu claimed to have attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos; Children Home School, Ibadan and Government College Ibadan, for his primary and secondary education.
Yet, these lie merchants who are defending the president’s embarrassing infidelity to truth have the effrontery to accuse others of being pathological liars. Little wonder the ‘Obi is a liar message’ is not resonating. It is dead on arrival. The jibe is not catching fire because Nigerians know who the real liars are. They know that Obi is not a member of their orchestra of deceit.
Peter Obi’s high-minded proclivity to go high when the Keyamos, Onanugas, Soludos, Umahis, etc. of this country go low, his ability to respond to insults and unfair attacks with dignity and integrity is the reason why they remain so confounded despite their braggadocio.
