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Many Years Ago
When Peter Obi announced two weeks ago that he was going to dump the Labour Party for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), many feared he was leaving the Labour Party, a party on whose platform he recorded admirable results when he contested for president in 2023, for ADC where had little or no influence.
But what many don’t know is that Peter Obi is no stranger to ADC. It will come as a shock to a lot of people to know that Peter Obi was part of the creation of ADC many years ago. This was revealed by Pat Utomi who, along with Peter Obi and others, formed ADC almost 20 years ago. Obi has, indeed, been a part and parcel of ADC from inception, little wonder why he feels at home with the party.
Speaking to the City People team led by Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE and Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290), Pat Utomi, who will be turning 70 in a few weeks, reveals how he and a few others, including Peter Obi, began the formation of ADC many years ago.
Before Peter Obi took that decision to join ADC, were you consulted?
ADC? We started ADC, me, talking to you here. I was presidential candidate of ADC, 2007. After 2007, Okey Nwosu, who was the chairman, and I continued to look for how to build a coalition that would allow a different set of political actors to get on the scene. What happened in 2022, ADC was supposed to be the platform. It was Femi Falana that came in and said, no, because my strategy in 2022 was to mobilize the labor unions, because they had the structure. And I thought, okay, once we’ve got NLC and TUC on board, we’ll bring a coalition of parties together, essentially, formally with ADC at the core, and that would be the basis. But at one of those meetings, which all took place at the labor house in Abuja, Femi Falana said, look, he can retrieve the labor party. So I said, okay, why not? That’s how labor became the movement. Labor wasn’t even in the consideration.
So when labor turned out to be what it turned out to be, I simply said, look, ADC is the best platform. When the meetings of what we now have started, I was at the very first meeting. I was in meetings in Barcelona, in London. So we were the people who planned this thing. And at all of those meetings, I kept saying, ADC. That’s how it happened. And Peter Obi was present vicariously through me and physically sometimes. So he was always in on the process. He didn’t just wake up and announce he was joining.
But why did he wait for this long before announcing that he’s joining ADC? One would’ve thought, since he had this clear picture that he’s going to do this, why didn’t he do it early?
It’s a matter of timing. In politics, you just choose your time. You don’t want to jump ahead too early or too late or whatever. So his timing was end of 2025.
And how do you see the performance of the current administration? It’s been about three years now, each time you think about it, what comes to mind?
That it could have been different. I’ll be very candid about this. As all of you know, the man is my friend. Again, talking about principle, I knew he was over 70 years old and I was against his running for president. That’s simple principle. My life is based on principle. Go and check everything I’ve done. So I didn’t expect him to run. But who listens to me? He chose to run and I chose not to support because of that simple principle. Go back, check all the things I’ve done. It’s not that I have something against you. You see, all this politics as enmity, I’ve never understood it.
One of my best examples, one of my school mates, good friend, very close friend, is Tumi Davies. Tumi Davies, son of H.O Davies. H.O. Davies, as a politician, was an Action Group politician. Nnamdi Azikiwe was an NCNC politician. Davies and Azikiwe were friends. They will campaign during the day. Zik will be campaigning in NCNC platform, H.O. Davis will be campaigning in action group platform. By 6pm, Zik will drive up to Davies’ house. Davies will be ready with his tennis suit, they both go and play tennis. After tennis, they will drink their beer. Zik will come back, drop him and go. The next day they will campaign differently. It’s this set of politicians who have turned politics into enmity.
So, my principle was, Bola Tinubu should not run, he’s over 70. I have been saying this. Why do people not listen to me, actually? Somebody said to me, why did you… I said this 20 years ago. I’m not saying it for the first time. Nobody over 70. In a country where the median age is 19, why should somebody over 70 be running? He doesn’t have the energy. Anybody over 70 doesn’t have the energy that you need to run a country of this nature. So, anyway, because I took that principle position, I didn’t support Tinubu. Having gone through the process, come out the way it has come out, the thing I expected him to do as a politically savvy person, which is what Yar Adua did, Yar Adua came out and said, look, the process through which I got here was flawed, but it will not happen again. We must correct these things, blah, blah. I didn’t expect Tinubu to say the process that got me here was flawed or not flawed or whatever. I expected him to say, look, we must bring our country together to move forward. I intend to appoint so-and-so as something akin to a prime minister, form a government of national unity, so we can bring our country together. I was shocked when he didn’t even do that, and when they got triumphalist, I said, what? In an election they didn’t win? This is unreal. So, I just lost whatever little hope I had left. Meanwhile, I was not well anyway, so I better go and start treating myself. So, that’s really what it was.
Would you admit that it’s not been so bad with the Tinubu administration? If you were to look critically at the scorecard, would you admit that they have done well in some ways?
On what scores? Because there’s never everything is bad or everything is good. It’s always going to be a mixed bag anytime, anywhere.
