There is the biblical injunction, which says that "A merchant had valuable goods in his store, but during trading expedition, he discovered a field that contains great treasure in the land. He returned home, sold his store and bought the field, and so possessed the great treasure." An Igbo aphorism says: "When something bigger than the farm is discovered, the ban is sold, (A hu ihe ka ubi, e lee oba)".
As reported in new Telegraph Newspaper of Wednesday, October 17, 2018, page 7, an organization called "Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), made up of various political parties, example, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress (APC), and others numbering over forty, are co-ordinating alliances to present a formidable front to confront the incumbency of All Progressives Congress (APC), to achieve a common objective. This is in emulation of the incumbency, the APC, which is a coalition of many parties in 2015, in confronting the then incumbency of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The incumbent APC is a coalition of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerians Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressives Change (CPC), a faction of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) led by Governor Rochas Okorocha, of Imo State, a faction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by then Governor Chibuike Amaechi of River State. The former separate parties knew that' without coalition in alliance, they could not defeat PDP in 2015. That was the strategy that Buhari used in 2015, to his advantage, having attempted on individual parties previously, on ANPP in 2003, on ANPP in 2007, on APC in 2011, and all were in futility. In 2015, he went into coalition alliance with other parties and succeeded.
The aforementioned newspaper reported as follows: "Based on the outcome of the primaries, former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was elected PDP presidential candidate, while former Cross River Governor, Donald Duke is the flag-bearer of Social Democratic Party (SDP). Former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Obadiah Mailafia, is the Presidential Candidate of African Democratic Party (ADP). Other parties also chose their own candidates.
"Yesterday's meeting which was presided over by the Chairman of the CUPP Steering Committee, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was attended by National Chairman of SDP, Chief Olu Falae, National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus and Chairman, reformed All Progressives Congress (R-APC), Engr. Buba Galadima, as well as Leadership of National Interven¬tion Movement, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, among others. "National Publicity Secretary of CUPP, Ikenga Ugochinyere, said in a statement, that the Coalition Leaders "pledged their readiness and commit¬ment to forge a common front to chase out the incompetent APC led adminis¬tration and rescue the country from the gradual drift to a state of economic hopelessness and reign of impunity".
As an Anambra State son is the prospective Vice President, the Igbo originated party, dominated by Igbo, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), is supposed to be a stakeholder in the Coalition. The report said that the various parties had earlier signed a Memorandum of understanding (MOU), and agreed to work together and achieve a common objective, which is victory in 2019 election. But to retain their individual identity, they held their respective primary elections and produced their respective presidential candidates. Yet, they came together recently, in preparation for the General Election of February 2019, to agree and present a consensus candidate.
When the chequered history of the All Progressives Grand Alliance is documented, Peter Obi should be given enormous credit for its survival up till today. When APGA was formed in 2002, by Igbo people so that Ndigbo could be in the mainstream of Nigeria’s politics, by fielding candidates for election, Ojukwu was fielded for Presidency and Peter Obi fielded for the Governorship of Anambra State in 2003. As it was a democratic dispensation, which guaranteed freedom of choice, people satisfied their conscience by voting massively for Peter Obi of APGA, for good governance which eluded them in 1999-2003. But those at the Federal Government brandished their monstrous "Federal Night," and maliciously rigged Obi/APGA Out. Obi went to Court, and for three years, 2003-2006, bore the brunt of costly litigations with the services of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), single-handedly, and with doggedness, resilience and tenacity of purpose, recovered the stolen mandate, on March 17, 2006. Six months after, the desperadoes reared their ugly heads again, and unleashed illegal impeachment, on November 2, 2006. Peter Obi went to Court again, and on February 9, 2007, quashed the illegal impeachment. He came to office and desperadoes came again, with illegal conducting election, and forcefully removed Obi from office on May 29, 2007. Obi again resorted to Court, with the services of expensive Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs). Again, he destroyed the illegal and unconstitutional election of 2007, and returned to his Seat. In spite of quantum of expenses, Obi remains honest and frugal in his personal expenses, wearing simple dress and maintaining modest life-style and saved much money for gigantic projects, to satisfy the yearnings of the people for good governance. He .justified their confidence that they gave him mandate for the second time, in 2010, to complete his constitutionally approved full tenure of eight years in 2014. With his good example of Verifiable tangible projects, all the governorship aspirants to succeed Him, pledged to replicate his good works, and continue from where he stopped, Even his incumbent successor pledged a slogan of “CONTINUE, COMPLETE, COMMISSION, COMMENCE”. This means that he would continue all. Obi's projects complete them; commission them before commencing on his own. This was because Obi did not leave any scandal to be corrected but bequeathed laudable legacies to be emulated.
When Obi left office, the anti-graft agencies gave him clean bills, while his contemporaries were chased around for interrogation. Obi's integrity and righteousness were the life wire of APGA, and if there is any way to compensate hits for keeping APGA alive, he deserves it. This opportunity of him to become the Vice President of Nigeria, with prospects of becoming the President, so that he can replicate his good legacies that be bequeathed at State level, can be advanced to the federal level. This opportunity of registering gratitude to Obi, should be grabbed, to the advantages of Ndigbo, both individually and collectively.
Again, people from other parts of Nigeria, have seen the qualities of Obi and are advocating for his services at the Federal level. This was evidenced in the testimony of the Leader of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in South West (Yoruba), Dr. Eddy Olafeso, when he addressed the stakeholders at their meeting in Sharaton Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos as reported in the new Telegraph newspaper of Wednesday, October 3, 2018, page 13, as follows: “… We further congratulate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on his emergence as Presidential candidate of PDP, in the primary election, an exercise which was very successful. Olafeso said that the South West was pleased with the choice of Mr. Peter Obi, a former Governor of Anambra State as his Running Mate. The party chieftain noted that the country was faced with serious economic challenges, saying Obi had the pedigree that could realize the PDP economic vision for Nigeria."
If such elitist group of Yoruba people could recognize Obi's quality and forget tribal differences and advocate for his services at the Federal Level, surely, his Igbo Kinsmen should perish any triviality of party differences and pettiness, and unite to quickly send him to such lofty office, as their proud ambassador. APGA’s popular slogan is “NKEA BU NKE ANYI (This is our own)”. Surely, Obi is our own and we should all join hands to protect and project our own.
SIR PETER OBI
PDP Presidential Running-Mate
