Comprehending and engaging Nigeria’s ‘Obidemic’ emergency, By Gbemisola Animasawun

In all, the Obi herd mentality, like Dutch courage, has emboldened many of them to insult, disrespect and demonise anyone who shares a contrary opinion. Now, what defines violent extremism more than threatening to inflict pain and/or punishment on somebody else for expressing a contrary but legally permissible opinion?

Contradictions are our only hope. – Bertolt Brecht
A mosquito perched and sucking on your balls requires tact and patience. – Abass Akande

My intent in this piece is to provide an explanation of the threat posed by political intolerance to deliberative democracy based on the online misconduct and civic incivility demonstrated by those who self-identify themselves as Obidients in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election. In terms of aspiration, Obidients are those committed to the presidential aspiration of one-time governor of Anambra state, Mr Peter Gregory Obi, and the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the recently concluded 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. From the streets of the social media to the physical streets, the Obidients have shown themselves as wired up to “take Nigeria back” in one of the oft-quoted expressions of Mr Peter Obi.

Demographically, most of these Obidients are young and social media-active Nigerians at home and abroad and though I stand to be corrected, they are mostly in Southern Nigeria. Socio-politically, they have received endorsements from the Chief Ayo Adebanjo-led faction of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group and former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Politico-religiously, leading clerics like Pastor Eneche and going by a recent leaked video, Pastor David Oyedepo, can be described as open and closet Obidients, respectively. Also, within the Obi demography are many, who hitherto used the IPOB insignia as display pictures and gradually switched to using that of the Labour Party and/or Mr Obi himself. One common aspiration of the Obidients is/was the emergence of Mr Obi as the winner of the 2023 presidential election based on their numbers and resources.

Understandably, the Obidients believe that only Peter Obi can and must win Nigeria’s presidential election. This view was further strengthened by multiple polls with questionable sample sizes and methodologies that touted Mr Obi as the winner. So, over time, the Obidients became boisterous and convinced that Obi would only lose the 25 February election if it was rigged.

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Obidients’ Intolerance of Alternative Opinions and Desperation to Personalise the Public Space

In pursuing this dream, the Obidients (in)advertently violated fundamental democratic ethos by their intolerance of contrary or alternative opinions, which meant that they were trying to monopolise the public space. Any inquiry about Mr Obi’s Panama papers scandal, betrayal of the public covenant that he will never leave his erstwhile political party, APGA, or even about his wristwatches had only one response: cancelation of such inquirers. Some examples would suffice.

In another instance, the heir of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Femi Kuti was threatened for allegedly calling Obidients “zombies”. According to Femi, “I woke up today to insults abusing me, my family and my children, threatening that they will burn the Shrine.” Sequel to this, Mr Obi visited Femi Kuti in apparent attempt to douse the tension.

First was how they came down hard on Pastor Poju Oyemade who, in my reckoning, deserves credit for putting Obi in the view and consciousness of Southerners in Nigeria featuring him frequently on the Platform programme of his ministry, where Obi numerously pontificated on his economic theories and marketed his personal spartan lifestyle, as a way of endearing himself to Nigerians desirous of an alternative to a leadership that has seemingly failed them. What was Pastor Oyemade’s offence? He was alleged to have tweeted, and I am sure not at Obi or his followers, that “Without having real evidence upon which you are acting nor preparation for the task, recognising real obstacles that lie ahead and making concrete plans, one is just being delusional about the outcome. The enthusiasm of the youth must not be wasted on poorly planned projects.” As they say on the streets, kilagbe, kileju?, to express a mismatch between action and reaction, the Obidients merely stopped short of passing a fatwah on Pastor Oyemade for making use of right of expression.

In another instance, the heir of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Femi Kuti was threatened for allegedly calling Obidients “zombies”. According to Femi, “I woke up today to insults abusing me, my family and my children, threatening that they will burn the Shrine.” Sequel to this, Mr Obi visited Femi Kuti in apparent attempt to douse the tension. From the South-East, Professor Charles Soludo, after a series of insults hurled at him and his family, penned a direct letter to Mr Obi containing brotherly and frank advise. Characteristically, the letter elicited an expected response from the Obidients, who have also threatened to close their accounts with the United Bank for Africa (UBA) because Mr Tinubu, the president-elect, visited Mr Tony Elumelu, the chairman of UBA.

In all, the Obi herd mentality, like Dutch courage, has emboldened many of them to insult, disrespect and demonise anyone who shares a contrary opinion. Now, what defines violent extremism more than threatening to inflict pain and/or punishment on somebody else for expressing a contrary but legally permissible opinion?

…the Obidients seem buoyed by a techno-deterministic suasion of the internet and social media hashtags as emancipatory, while disregarding other variables that are more contextual, and empirical. Also, the assumption that the Gen-Z constitutes the single largest electoral demography based on records of new registrants and PVCs collected, according to INEC, forgetting that not all these youths would vote for Obi.  

Understanding the Obidients

My thinking is that the Obidients seem buoyed by a techno-deterministic suasion of the internet and social media hashtags as emancipatory, while disregarding other variables that are more contextual, and empirical. Also, the assumption that the Gen-Z constitutes the single largest electoral demography based on records of new registrants and PVCs collected, according to INEC, forgetting that not all these youths would vote for Obi.  

For instance, the most telling testimonies of the disruptive power of youths’ numbers in the 2023 elections came from states with the negligible presence of Obidients. In Yobe State, a 35-year-old first-timer unseated the Speaker, who has been in office for two decades. In Kwara, a 26-year-old lady set a record as the youngest parliamentarian in the state, while Adamawa might be warming up to produce the first female governor. Indeed, these are realities not brought about by social media, civic intolerance, or techno-determinism.

Engaging the Obidients

One of Professor Femi Taiwo’s unassailable analysis of the Nigerian crisis is that “we do not have a security problem but a knowledge problem.” So, the Obidients should be taken as seriously as a pandemic, given the threats of civic ignorance and intolerance to democracy. In this vein, lesson four of Zakaria Fareed’s ten lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for listening, even if we share contrary stances. So, knowledge and listening as essential to appreciating contradictions are the hope of democracy. The tact and patience needed for this engagement should be that of someone on whose balls a mosquito is perched and sucking on.

Gbemisola Animasawun is with the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin.