The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, explained why his supporters, popularly called Obidients, are angry.
A section of Nigerians described supporters of the former Anambra State governor as being aggressive, especially on social media.
Obi while appearing on Arise TV’s Morning Show on Monday, stated that proponents of the OBIdients Movement are enraged over the sorry state of the nation and therefore demand change.
According to him, while some of the uncouth social media behaviour of the purported followers stems from opposing camps who often pose as his followers to commit indecency, some of the staunch opinions expressed by his followers stem from a place of distress and deep hurt due to the dismal state of affairs in the country.
He said, “I have answered this several times. One, there is infiltration by opponents, and there are those who believe in me who are angry. I’ve served people faithfully. I have never raised my voice at anybody. You cannot go and say because your son shouts at people, that is you. I’m telling them please, but some of them are angry. Some of them have been out of school for the past ten years without jobs. You cannot control their anger. All I can do is appeal.
Obi stated that the historical antecedents of the presidential candidates should be the determining factor in evaluating who will fulfil his campaign pledges, considering that all the other presidential candidates have made identical claims.
He noted that the ruling All Progressives Congress had made several promises to Nigerians which are yet to be fulfilled to date.
He said, “All of us are saying the same thing, but what makes a difference is – who can we trust? This election is about trust. We are promising the same thing, but can we look at the antecedents? Things they have promised in the past, how they delivered it or attempted to deliver it.
“Who among these people can we say have the character, the competence, the capacity, the commitment to at least do what he is saying? That is what differentiates us.
“We’ve had promises in the past. We’ve had promises that the dollar is going to be one-to-one. Now we are almost 800 to one, and nobody is saying anything.
“We do not need all these fanciful, fair, good-looking manifestos or documents that are written. Let the people come and talk. You mentioned Britain, it was because what she (Truss) promised, she could not deliver; and, honourably, she packed her suitcase and went out.”
