A popular Nigerian Catholic priest, John Oluoma, has defended Peter Obi’s single four-year term pledge amid a war of words between Mr Obi and Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State.
The war of words
In June, Mr Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), pledged to serve for a single four-year tenure if elected the country’s president in 2027.
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The Nigerian constitution allows elected presidents only two terms of four years each. President Bola Tinubu, from the southern part of the country, is currently in his first term and is expected to seek re-election in 2027. Mr Obi’s pledge appears to be a strategic assurance to the north that the south would not stay in power for more than eight years.
But Mr Soludo, without mentioning names, aimed a swipe at the LP candidate, saying politicians who make such promises are “mentally unstable.”
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In his response, Mr Obi reaffirmed his vow to serve only a single four-year term if elected Nigeria’s president, adding that his critics were judging him by their own standards, where political promises are made to be broken.
Catholic priest backs Obi
But reacting in a Sunday Facebook post, Mr Oluoma said Mr Obi’s reaffirmation of the one-term promise was “reassuring and gathers more credibility.”
The Abuja-based Catholic priest said it was “unnerving” that the loudest and most scathing scepticism, cynicism, and criticism” come from Igbo-speaking people of the South-east where the LP candidate hails from.
He backed Mr Obi’s “one term” promise and stressed that the politician could use the pledge as a strategy to win the forthcoming general election in Nigeria.
“This one-term project might be Peter Obi’s most potent disruptive political masterstroke in Nigeria yet. It is capable of being Obi’s biggest winning strategy come 2027, and I back it with my full chest,” he said.
Mr Oluoma argued that Mr Obi’s pledge would be a “win-win” for Nigeria from every dimension.
“Tribally, it soothes and even settles the Igbo presidency drought. Regionally, it retains power in the South.
“I don’t think our brethren from South-west who have tasted that office well enough wouldn’t consider it. Same goes for our brethren in the South-south,” he stated.
‘Why Nigerians should back Obi’s one-term pledge’
Since assuming office in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu has implemented economic and policy reforms, such as removing petrol subsidies, floating the naira, tax reforms, and interest-free loans to Nigerian students in public tertiary institutions.
Most of these reforms, especially the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the Naira, have elicited both criticism and praise from Nigerians and non-Nigerians.
But Mr Oluoma argued that those were Mr Tinubu’s “boldest and gutsiest economic reforms and policies” in Nigeria.
The Catholic priest contended that Mr Obi cannot reverse such policies if elected.
He stressed that those reforms had come to stay despite their biting consequences, which he hopes will “ease off” with time and more intentional interventions from the Nigerian government.
“Obi will definitely build on them (Tinubu’s reforms) and bring some needed cut down in cost of governance, systemic corruption and decentralisation of certain centralised government establishments and bureaucracies.
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“He is most likely going to be the first Nigerian president to escape the ‘crime’ of tribalism and nepotism in political appointments,” Mr Oluoma argued.
The Catholic priest maintained that if elected, Mr Obi’s one-term presidency will hold “a new promising era” for Nigeria’s politics.
“The North should throw its weight fully to it, the South-south and South-east will have no problem keying in. The only region that will kick against it, understandably, will be the South-west, and that’s totally fine,” he stated.
“Nigerians, Obi’s one-term presidency is the most golden opportunity we have to use one stone and kill many birds. Let’s make it happen.”
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