This essay is inspired by a cartoon by a journalist called “Sergo”, published in the Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki’s newspaper, called Advocate, on page 4. The cartoon has an image named “Obi” standing in the centre of a group of four men who were labelled variously as “Presidency”, “EFCC”, the “Police” and “Hay Pee Cee Databoys”. The “Presidency” and “EFCC” have by their sides an empty box labelled “Corruption Files” and a record book on which was written boldly, “No Record”; another record book on which is written, “Stolen Fund No Record”. The “Hay Pee Cee Databoys” has binoculars focused on “Obi”, while the “Police” seems exasperated and proclaims, “No Crime”. But “EFCC” appears frantically to be searching “Obi”’s trousers, while the Presidency seems bemused and tired, focusing a magnifying mirror on the person of “Obi”. Only two of the figures in this cartoon made comments.
The “Hay Pee Cee Databoys” appeared choked by his envy as he taunted “Obi” with this ill-feeling comment: “Mr Integrity, why is your wife not using Ghana-Must-Go or polythene bag?”—perhaps in reference to the controversy over Obi’s wife’s famed handbag. Then, the “Presidency” managed to voice his frustration by urging his confederates to “search him thoroughly. He cannot be different from us.” And this is the pith of the message the cartoonist has managed to pass across to the public: that Mr Obi has become an object of envy and hatred because he is different from typical Nigerian politicians.
When I saw this cartoon on Sunday afternoon, September 20, 2026, I was amused by the stupidity of man and his seeming frivolities, in which seemingly intelligent and very important people in society indulged themselves, spending precious time on irrelevant matters. How can rulers of men and society find no reasonable occupation or vocation to occupy themselves with, but instead engage in the banality of constituting a single man as their sole object of worry, wonder and withering hatred?
The cartoonist must have followed Mr Obi’s odyssey, who, as the former Governor of Anambra State (2005–2013), governed well and moved on without any taint of corruption. But something significant happened. Mr Obi was not shown to have corruptly enriched himself by acquiring those objects of status that occupy most public officers in Nigeria, such as exotic cars, stately mansions in Nigeria and overseas, especially in London and the United States, or amassed humongous, inexplicable wealth running into trillions of naira within Nigeria and millions of US dollars in overseas hidden bank accounts.
He did not, by inexplicable means, transform his relatively rich or even poor background into an inexplicable economic empire capable of financing any project in Nigeria or elsewhere, thereby rendering himself and his family materially impregnable and more dangerous than danger. Mr Obi, a man of modest means and sublime simplicity, does not display the wealth which, of course, he has acquired through credible means, and considers the pleasures of this world not to be of particular concern to him. So, whereas men of his status are flying private aeroplanes around the world, he mingles with the poor and rich in commercial aeroplanes, carrying his luggage wherever he goes.
These disarming character traits attracted to him the notice of both intelligent and sophisticated people and the hoi polloi, for it is said that the greatest achievement of any human is to earn the respect of intelligent people and the affection of common people.
So, it happened that some great men who considered themselves “super-patriots” reviewed the development of Nigeria when one poor man’s son, by fortuitous circumstances, tumbled onto the imperious throne of Nigerian rulers. But, being ignorant of world geopolitics, he appeared “unagreeable” to President Obama’s proposition of gay rights by legislating against it, thereby incurring the wrath of those world rulers and paying dearly for his impetuosity. Observing that Mr Jonathan had lost the favour of world rulers, the “super-patriots” moved in, formed a party called “Progressives” and, with the help of local agents of neocolonialism, sacked Jonathan and inherited the throne. After a decade of empty talks and vibes, Nigerians have been entertained with endless talks about how great Nigeria is performing in the world economy and may still win gold in the race for trillion-dollar economic competition with China, the USA and Israel.
But Nigerians are not deceived, as the pangs of economic decay and social disintegration have scattered the once-coherent society and compact family unit, and the members—youths and adults—have gone their different ways into abominable occupations of insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and “yahoo” businesses. After all, “man-must-wack” to stay alive and walk this blessed land.
Several movements have hit the country, but it was the 2020 youth riots that exposed the underbelly of Nigeria’s rotten feudal autocracy, which has bred super-billionaires not from any worthwhile economic ventures but from kleptocratic politics. It was the anger arising from this sorry situation that activated the youth rebellion called “ENDSARS” in October 2020. As the political transition of 2023 approached, the youths spotted Mr Peter Obi as a beacon of hope for the survival of Nigeria, and they supported him by hoisting him on a relatively unknown political party, the Labour Party. Without great resources, the Nigerian youths, from Lagos to Sokoto and Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, bore Peter Obi on eagles’ wings, and by the morning after election day, Mr Peter Obi had swept the poll. But, not having the requisite political structure of the kleptocratic parties, he was allegedly rigged out.
Mr Peter Obi has refused to quit the fermented political puddle of Nigeria, insisting that he must be on the 2027 ballot, to the annoyance of the kleptocrats. It is this resolve that virtually all the traditional kleptocratic politicians have sworn to rubbish by subjecting him to blistering propaganda, outright inquisitions and attacks, as depicted by the Abakaliki Catholic Diocesan Advocate newspaper.
Mr Peter Obi has been a bone stuck in the throats of Nigerian politicians, especially the ruling APC and its apparatchiks, as can be seen in the attacks against Obi in Edo and Benue States. These politicians’ grouse with Peter Obi is: Why can’t he be like them, living at the mercy of the rulers, being corrupt and surviving on crumbs from the commonwealth of Nigeria, while being protected by the cult of mediocrity that has been instituted to manage and superintend it? It is a crime in the country of evildoers to be different. This is Peter Obi’s predicament. You must join them or be ready for their troubles. May God’s will be done between Mr Peter Obi and this vicious cult of mediocrity controlling Nigeria.
•Onwe, Esq., writes from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
