Everywhere you turn to these days the subject of discourse is usually Mr. Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party. It is worse on social media, where he has become the most talked about politician in Nigeria. There are 2 sets of people who usually talk about him. First are those who like him, like the Obidients, who are his fanatical followers. Second are those who dislike him. They don’t see any thing good about him. And they say nasty things, atimes about him. He really doesn’t mind. He has developed thick skin. He believes if he runs for the presidency in 2027, he would win. And he is working on that. At the last elections he played a lot on Religion and Ethnicity, and that gave him a great showing. He sincerely feels he was rigged out of the race. He has been offered an option of running with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in ADC but he is not sure of the outcome. He is also not sure his followers will support the move. So he is considering staying back in Labour Party, but collaborating with the Coalition of opposition forces against Pres. Tinubu. He feels that will work.
Peter Obi feels his political pedigree will help his chances. Lets remind you. He was the Governor of Anambra State under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 17 March 2006 to 3 November 2006, when he was impeached. He was reinstated on 9 February 2007 and continued his tenure until 2010. He was re-elected for his second term until 7 March 2014. A former member of the Labour Party since 2022, he was the presidential candidate in the 2023 Nigerian presidential election.
He is from Onitsha, Anambra, Obi graduated from Christ the King College, Onitsha and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He began his career in banking and later went into Politics. He contested for the office of the Anambra State Governor in 2003 under the All Progressives Grand Alliance. Victory in the election was awarded to Chris Ngige, who was subsequently sworn in as the governor. Obi successfully challenged this outcome in court and was declared the duly elected candidate, becoming the governor on 17 March, 2006.
Obi’s administration was however interrupted shortly after as he was removed from office by the State Assembly on 3 November, 2006. The State Assembly cited “gross misconduct” on the part of Obi for its action. Obi headed once more to court, as the position of Governor devolved to his deputy, Dame Virginia Etiaba. He was restored to office and resumed as governor on 9 February, 2007. Obi was yet to complete his tenure when another election was held to fill the position: the electoral body, INEC, was more interested in keeping to its schedule of elections than consideration of fairness to Obi. This “election” produced Andy Uba of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as Governor. His swearing in on 29 May, 2007 meant forcible removal of Obi from the governorship seat. Obi was yet once more compelled to seek judicial help. The Supreme Court upheld Obi’s position, overturning another illegality to enable Obi serve out his governorship from 14 June, 2007 to 17 March, 2010. Obi successfully ran for re-election and subsequently held the governorship till 17 March, 2014 when he handed over to his successor, Willie Obiano.
Obi sought the Vice presidential nomination in 2019, along Alhaji Atiku Abubakar after decamping to Peoples Democratic Party but lost to Muhammadu Buhari. He became a member of the Labour Party in 2022 and was handed the presidential ticket by Patrick Utomi during the primary election of the party. He selected Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed as the Vice presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election, and their ticket lost to President and Vice President, Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima.
Obi’s presidential campaign has been described as populist, especially with firing up a group of supporters called the ‘Obidients’.
In 2025, Obi left the Labour Party to join the African Democratic Congress, alongside his former rival Atiku Abubakar. The two opposition leaders intend to present a united front against the APC in the 2027 presidential elections.
During the 2023 Presidential election campaign young people under 30 proved to be some of the biggest Obi’s supporters, showing their support via social media, protests and street marches. Aisha Yesufu endorsed Obi in her first-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate. Young supporters of Obi’s campaign were generally called the “Obidients”, which was coined from his name “Obi”. In a Business Day opinion article, Chikwurah Isiguzo argued that:
[The Obidients] are attracted by Peter Obi’s ideology of frugality, economic production rather than the ostentatious consumerism and waste, and resourceful management and investment in key sectors, for economic growth and development.
Political commentators have generally argued that Obi’s Third party candidacy appeals to young voters dissatisfied with the two major parties, which has resulted in the “biggest political movement in recent Nigerian history.” With his core message of prudence and accountability, Obi has managed to gain the backing of voters for his previously largely unknown Labour Party into a strong third force against two political heavyweights, APC and PDP.
Late Physician, Dr. Doyin Okupe initially was the temporary running mate of Obi until a substantive candidate could be selected.
On 8 July 2022, Obi unveiled his running mate, Senator for Kaduna North Senatorial District Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed.
The results were announced on 1 March 2023. Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress party, was named the president-elect with 8.79 million votes. Obi received 6.1 million votes, and won in both Lagos and Abuja. This put Obi in third place behind winner Bola Tinubu and People’s Democratic Party nominee Atiku Abubakar. Due to the elections being rife with several allegations, reports and evidence of voter manipulation, disenfranchisement and rigging, Obi announced that he would challenge the election results, stating that, “We won the election and we will prove it to Nigerians”. He did, but lost.
