19/07/2025
Nigeria’s Political Bigotry and the Persecution of Peter Obi
Many Nigerians do not fully grasp the dangerous undertone that shapes the political landscape of this country. What is playing out against Peter Obi is not just partisan politics but a sinister cocktail of ethnic chauvinism and elite hypocrisy. A man like Monday Okpebholo dares to threaten Peter Obi publicly, yet he cannot raise his voice against the likes of Rabiu Kwankwaso, Atiku Abubakar, or Nasir El-Rufai. Why? Because Obi is Igbo. He is fair game. In Nigeria’s elite political culture, the Igbo man is the bushmeat on the menu of the power-hungry. Everyone feasts (no consequences).
Behind the doors of high offices and elite gatherings, many of the so-called democrats cheer Okpebholo on. He is simply expressing publicly what many murmur in private. The prejudice is deep. When Bayo Onanuga openly warned the Igbo not to bother voting in Lagos come 2027, he did so with audacity he could never summon against the Hausa or Fulani. That is the level of disdain. That is how normalized Igbo marginalization has become.
In Benue, Governor Hyacinth Alia, a reverend father no less, found the boldness to attack Peter Obi, yet he lacks the spine to even name the herdsmen killing his own people. He cannot address the real security threats in his state, but finds time to turn a local street boy into a loudspeaker against Obi. That cowardice is telling. Obi is attacked not because he is weak, but because he is Igbo, and in this current dispensation, that alone makes him an easy target.
Let no one be deceived, Okpebholo is not acting out of conviction. He is performing a loyalty dance to please Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Edo State was handed to him under questionable circumstances, and now he must deliver. Threatening Obi is the political sport Tinubu and his foot soldiers enjoy. They did it in Lagos during the 2023 elections, where Igbo voters were threatened, assaulted, and disenfranchised while Tinubu watched in silence. He has never disowned those actions. Instead, he surrounds himself with men like MC Oluomo, Onanuga, and now even Reno Omokri who has abandoned his old anti-Tinubu rhetoric to focus on smearing Obi and the Igbo people.
It is a dangerous game. A president who sows division, who empowers tribal goons and rewards ethnic chauvinism, will soon reap national disaster. Nigeria is in desperate need of healing, of principled leadership, of a unifier. What we have instead is a gang of political bandits wearing reformist garbs, looting public wealth and playing ethnic cards to stay in power.
Peter Obi represents a political movement rooted in ideas, not ethnic alliances. That is what scares them. That is why they attack. But history is watching. The time will come when this political recklessness will backfire. When the chickens come home to roost, no amount of propaganda will save those who built their thrones on division and ethnic hate.
Happy birthday to Mr. Peter Obi
